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Rockbox mail archiveSubject: Re: mcuelenaere: r20055 - in trunk/firmware: drivers export target/arm/tcc780x/cowond2 target/mips/ingenic_jz47xx/onda_vx747Re: mcuelenaere: r20055 - in trunk/firmware: drivers export target/arm/tcc780x/cowond2 target/mips/ingenic_jz47xx/onda_vx747
From: Maurus Cuelenaere <mcuelenaere_at_gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 22 Feb 2009 17:26:04 +0100 This is a response from Carlos E. Vidales: Hello. > > I'm flattered that you would include my touch screen code in your mp3 > player firmware set. Who knows, one day I may buy an mp3 that uses my code > to calibrate the screen. Sweet! > > I assume that the point that Mr. Chapman noted regarding the GPL is this > (from the GNU General Public License<http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html>): > "You may charge any price or no price for each copy that you convey..." > I've always found that statement rather contradictory, but there is no point > in arguing for or against it. (I also read the IRC log, by the way. Good > discussion.) > > There is one practical consideration why I cannot re-release the code: I do > not maintain a ftp site that I control and where I can place newer versions > of the code, even if only the comments change. That I am aware of, the only > public place where it exists (prior to your including it in the Rockbox > distribution) is the ftp.embedded.com site. It exists just as it was > provided to complement the touch screen calibration article published in the > printed version of the magazine back in 2002. It is a historical archive. > > A second reason for not changing the terms of distribution is personal: I > did intend for the code to be maximally distributed and nothing gets around > better than when it is free. I considered that perhaps companies and > individuals may want to charge a nominal fee or royalty for distributing it > (and it does appear from e-mail that I have received since 2002 that the > code is popular), but if they will make money for distributing the code, I > would want to receive a portion of those profits. It would only be fair. > As you can imagine, that is not be practical either. Thus, I opted to make > the code available as it is with God's grace: it is free and not for sale; > just come get it. > > Let me make something very clear, however: I do not object if individuals > and companies charge for maintaining and adapting the code for specific > purposes. Time and effort spend to adapt and maintain the code is your time > and effort, and I would not presume to make a claim over it. Just don't > sell the code. In my mind, your distributing the code with the Rockbox > satisfies my original intention. I assume that you business model is > "charge for the effort to integrate the code and make it available as a set, > and then charge for support and maintenance." But you do not claim > ownership of the code. > > What to do? I am not a legal expert, I sympathize with your needs and > request, I would be disappointed to see the code ripped out of your > distribution, but I do not know if there is a practical way to satisfy the > need. I am open to your suggestions. > > Best regards, > > Carlos > > P.S.: Yes, you could re-write the code as Llorean suggested in the IRC, it > is just very unlikely that it will end up being very different. I have > written several versions of the code staring in ~1997, and they all ended up > looking pretty much the same, except for the order of computations and the > names of variables. I settled on this code version because it is the > cleanest and easiest to understand. The principles used to base the > calibration seem rather immutable; the math necessarily follows. > As the main problem was his license being incompatible with GPL, this'll probably end up in me rewriting the code. Regards, Cuelenaere Maurus Received on 2009-02-22 Page template was last modified "Tue Sep 7 00:00:02 2021" The Rockbox Crew -- Privacy Policy |