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1. Embed this notice
   WellsiteGeo (wellsitegeo@masto.ai)'s status on Friday, 26-Dec-2025 06:57:36 JST WellsiteGeo

   • Philip

   @ghul @pkal GPL v2 was, IIRC, about 1988?
   Which was well into the era of binary blobs on ROMs, game cartridges, etc. The question of "hardware controlled by built-in software" was live long before then, and GPL didn't cover it of choice.
   In 1988, I was installing highly propriatory SW updates at work with a screwdriver and 2 ROMs on the 8088 industrial SBC.

   • Embed this notice
     Alfred M. Szmidt (amszmidt@mastodon.social)'s status on Friday, 26-Dec-2025 06:57:35 JST Alfred M. Szmidt

     in reply to

     • Linus Torvalds
     • Philip

     @WellsiteGeo GPLv2 was released in 1991, version 1 was released in 1989. The basis of which was based on the GNU Emacs General Public License (with similar terms used in other parts of GNU) from 1985.

     The GPL (any version) and ROMs are quite compatible, and have always been. The issue with TiVo was different, and @torvalds likes to ignore that fact (similar, in this thread where he ignores everything the SFC wrote or stated).

     @ghul @pkal

   • Embed this notice
     Linus Torvalds (torvalds@social.kernel.org)'s status on Friday, 26-Dec-2025 23:09:28 JST Linus Torvalds

     in reply to

     • Alfred M. Szmidt

     @amszmidt I wonder why you think I’m ignoring or mis-reading what the SFC has written and stated? Because I’m sadly very familiar with their statements over the years.

     Do you think the California Superior court judge also misread what the SFC stated? Because that judge also found their arguments lacking any basis in reality:

     The Plain Language of the Agreements does not Support the Alleged Duty

     (where that “Alleged Duty” is the baseless arguments from SFC about being able to re-install on the device).

     I think you didn’t actually read the ruling, and you may perhaps have read just the flim-flam garbage that the SFC put out about the completely irrelevant issue of “continuing to function properly” which was what Vizio was using as their reason for not releasing keys.

     Put another way: I can read. That superior court judge can read. I think you need to learn to read. And you need to take what the SFC then says in court - and on their blog - with a big pinch of salt.

     I realize that other people like the GPLv3 and wish the Linux kernel was under that license. But that is simply not the case, and never has been and never will be.

     Deal with reality, not your baseless wishes otherwise.

     Haelwenn /элвэн/ :triskell: likes this.