cs89x0.txt

grub4dos-0.4.4-2008- 08-src.zip

/* cs89x0: A Crystal Semiconductor CS89[02]0 driver for grub4dos.
 *
 *  Copyright (C) 2007 Tinybit <[e-mail]>
 *  Copyright (C) 1997-2007 Ken Yap <[e-mail]>
 *  Copyright (C) 1996-2007 Markus Gutschke <[e-mail]>
 *  Copyright (C) 1988-2007 Russell Nelson, Crynwr Software
 *
 *  This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
 *  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 1 or
 *  version 2 as published by the Free Software Foundation.
 *
 *  This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 *  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 *  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 *  GNU General Public License for more details.
 *
 *  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 *  along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 *  Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
 */


/*

In August 2, 2007, Sascha Sommer <[e-mail]> posted a message to
the [e-mail] mailing list as follows:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
	Subject： 	[Grub4dos-devel] cs89x0.c driver

	Hi,

	the file netboot/cs98x0.txt contains the following statement:

	"Permission is granted to distribute the enclosed cs89x0.[ch] driver
	only in conjunction with the Etherboot package.  The code is
	ordinarily distributed under the GPL.

			Russ Nelson, January 2000"

	So it looks like these files cannot be distributed with grub4dos. 
	As the Makefile in the netboot dir contains following statements
		"# Don't build the netboot support by default."
	I wonder if the cs89x0 driver cannot be removed from the grub4dos
	distribution.

		Regards

		Sascha
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In reply to the doubts above, I make the following note on the license issue,
and claim we are distributing the code under GPL at the very beginning of the
file.

In etherboot-4.2 which was released in June 5, 1999, the files cs89x0.[ch]
have this copyright notice by Markus Gutschke([e-mail]):

===============================================================================
  This code is heavily based on the linux driver as written by
  Russell Nelson <[e-mail]> and Donald Becker
  <[e-mail]> and modified by Mike Cruse
  <[e-mail]>. That driver has been released under the
  conditions of the GNU Public License, thus this one is probably to
  be considered "derived work". Therefore, there are some legal
  obstacles in combining this file with etherboot's code, which is
  released under a BSD style license.

  So, if you want to actually use this code, you should make sure that
  you are aware of the legal implications. I release *my* work into
  the PUBLIC DOMAIN which implies that you can use it either under a
  BSD style license, or under the conditions of the GPL, or under any
  other conditions that you like. N.B. this does not apply to the
  parts that originate from other authors. So, you should probably
  contact them first and verify if they agree with your intended use.

  If you contacted all of the above authors and they agreed to give
  special permission for using this code under the conditions of a BSD
  style license, then please do let me know.
===============================================================================

In a later etherboot release, the copyright notice changed to this:

**********************************************************************
  Permission is granted to distribute the enclosed cs89x0.[ch] driver
  only in conjunction with the Etherboot package.  The code is
  ordinarily distributed under the GPL.

  Russ Nelson, January 2000
**********************************************************************

Don't be confused by the statements. Look at the first statement:

  Permission is granted to distribute the enclosed cs89x0.[ch] driver
  only in conjunction with the Etherboot package.

It should be understood as:

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                (1)
  Permission is granted **(to distribute the enclosed cs89x0.[ch] driver
  only in conjunction with the Etherboot package)**.
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

which means if the driver is distributed only in conjunction with the
Etherboot package, then Permission is granted for it.

It should not be understood as this:

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                (2)
  **(Permission is granted to distribute the enclosed cs89x0.[ch] driver)**
  only in conjunction with the Etherboot package.
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

which means Permission is **only** granted to distribute the driver
in conjunction with the Etherboot package, and if it is not distributed in
conjunction with Etherboot, then Permission is not granted.

The latter understanding of (2) is obviously wrong because it directly
conflicts with GPL claimed above in the second statement by Russ Nelson.

But if you consider Russ Nelson's announcements as dual license: one license
is for how to use this driver in Etherboot:

  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  Permission is granted to distribute the enclosed cs89x0.[ch] driver
  only in conjunction with the Etherboot package.
  ----------------------------------------------------------------------------

and the other license is for how to use this driver in other packages:

  --------------------------------------------------------
  The code is ordinarily distributed under the GPL.
  --------------------------------------------------------

then the different understandings between (1) and (2) are not important.
This is because, for the dual license, either of the included licenses
can be chosen by the recipient. You don't have to accept both licenses
simultaneously.

We are introducing the driver from Etherboot, so we can legally inherit
the GPL from Etherboot. In any case, we can distribute the cs89x0.[ch]
driver under GPL. There are no problems. Don't worry.

             ---- Tinybit <[e-mail]> August 20, 2007
*/

/***************************************************************************/
/*                                                                         */
/*                 The original copyright notice follows                   */
/*                                                                         */
/***************************************************************************/


Permission is granted to distribute the enclosed cs89x0.[ch] driver
only in conjunction with the Etherboot package.  The code is
ordinarily distributed under the GPL.

Russ Nelson, January 2000

CREDITS

I want to thank

  Mike Cruse <[e-mail]>
     for providing an evaluation NIC and for sponsoring the
     development of this driver.

  Randall Sears <[e-mail]>
  Deva Bodas <[e-mail]>
  Andreas Kraemer <[e-mail]>
  Wolfgang Krause <[e-mail]>
     for excellent technical support and for providing the required
     programming information. I appreciate Crystal Semiconductor's
     commitment towards free software.

  Russell Nelson <[e-mail]>
     for writing the Linux device driver for the CS89x0
     chipset. Russel's code is very well designed and simplified my
     job a lot.