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List:       fedora-devel-list
Subject:    Re: Am I allowed to package this?
From:       Simo Sorce <simo () redhat ! com>
Date:       2018-09-17 16:42:17
Message-ID: 1537202537.4288.107.camel () redhat ! com
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On Sun, 2018-09-16 at 10:17 +0200, Hans de Goede wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On 14-09-18 20:03, Simo Sorce wrote:
> > On Fri, 2018-09-14 at 19:37 +0200, Hans de Goede wrote:
> > > Hi,
> > > 
> > > On 09/13/2018 07:59 PM, Simo Sorce wrote:
> > > > On Thu, 2018-09-13 at 16:07 +0200, Hans de Goede wrote:
> > > > > Hi,
> > > > > 
> > > > > On 10-09-18 14:40, Abhiram Kuchibhotla wrote:
> > > > > > According to the LICENSE file in their git repo, the code in the repo \
> > > > > > seems to be gplv2. Not sure if that proves anything. I'll do the \
> > > > > > licensecheck -r later and update you guys. 
> > > > > > On Mon 10 Sep, 2018, 6:08 PM Richard Shaw, <hobbes1069@gmail.com \
> > > > > > <mailto:hobbes1069@gmail.com>> wrote: 
> > > > > > On Mon, Sep 10, 2018 at 7:27 AM Rex Dieter <rdieter@math.unl.edu \
> > > > > > <mailto:rdieter@math.unl.edu>> wrote: 
> > > > > > Jan Rybar wrote:
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > > Hi Abhiram,
> > > > > > > 
> > > > > > > you can make COPR. No one asks, no harm done, everyone's happy.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > I don't think copr is appropriate either,
> > > > > > https://docs.pagure.org/copr.copr/user_documentation.html#faq
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > To me, makes it pretty clear that if it can't be in fedora, it can't be \
> > > > > > in copr either.
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > 
> > > > > > You need to go through the code (maybe use licensecheck -r to help) to \
> > > > > > see if all the code is acceptable. If so I'll defer to Neal on the COPR \
> > > > > > acceptability. Another alternative is until formal support is added to \
> > > > > > the kernel you can look at packaging it in RPM Fusion. If it's truly FOSS \
> > > > > > but just not acceptable because it's a kernel module it can go in the \
> > > > > > Free repository. If it's using proprietary code (even if the project is \
> > > > > > GPL licensed) then as long as it's redistributable, it can go in the \
> > > > > > Non-Free repository.
> > > > > 
> > > > > 
> > > > > This looks like a standard realtek driver which realtek creates for Android \
> > > > > devices or some such. The code is not pretty (I really wish realtek would \
> > > > > start contributing proper drivers to the mainline kernel) but it usually is \
> > > > > all GPL licensed, except for the firmware for the NIC. I don't see firmware \
> > > > > in the git repo, so the code may need to be adjusted to use the kernels \
> > > > > firmware-load mechanism (I assume it has the firmware embedded atm).
> > > > > 
> > > > > The firmware files themselves may be distributed under this license:
> > > > > https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt
> > > > >  
> > > > > Note I did not check the files in the git repo, I just took a quick peek
> > > > > that it is a "standard" out of tree realtek driver.
> > > > > 
> > > > > Also IANAL and TINLA.
> > > > 
> > > > I also have to use this driver for a USB dongle that works very well
> > > > ... when I remember to check dkms didn't fail to build on kernel
> > > > upgrade ...
> > > > 
> > > > There is no firmware needed apparently, but my dongle doesn't work with
> > > > driver 5.2 which is the latest, so maybe a firmware is needed but the
> > > > driver itself doesn't load it ?
> > > > 
> > > > It would be really nice to have this driver in the kernel though as a
> > > > huge amount of cheap dongles use this chipset family, what would be the
> > > > process to get it in ?
> > > 
> > > You can submit it for inclusion into drivers/staging, there are already
> > > some realtek drivers for other chipsets there for similar reasons.
> > > 
> > > Real inclusion would require a complete rewrite of the driver mostly.
> > 
> > Sigh, and I guess there is no party (beyond Realtek) with enough
> > interest/time to do that ...
> 
> Well for some older chips Jes Sorensen did a new driver from scratch using
> the GPL-ed Realtek code as hardware documentation, so it is possible for
> a community member to do this if it itches hard enough for them.
> 
> You could reach out the Jes and ask him how much work this was and if
> he perhaps can write a blog post or 2 (or 3) to summarize his experience
> with this.

Thanks I'll ask him.

Simo.

-- 
Simo Sorce
Sr. Principal Software Engineer
Red Hat, Inc
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