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Re: RedBoot banner


On Tue, Feb 03, 2009 at 04:12:58PM +0000, Bart Veer wrote:
> >>>>> "Jifl" == Jonathan Larmour <jifl@eCosCentric.com> writes:
> 
>     <snip>
>     
>     Jifl> An alternative is to shove some of this into the 'version'
>     Jifl> command specifically so that while a manual invocation of
>     Jifl> the version command is more verbose, the banner isn't in
>     Jifl> which case the banner could be e.g. with Sergei's example:
> 
>     Jifl> RedBoot(tm) bootstrap and debug environment [ROM]
>     Jifl> Version UNKNOWN - built 12:06:17, Feb  2 2009
> 
>     Jifl> Copyright (C) 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
>     Jifl> RedBoot is free software. Type 'version' for license and warranty terms.
> 
>     Jifl> Platform: Olimex LPC-H2294 header board (ARM7TDMI-S)
>     Jifl> RAM: 0x81000000-0x81100000, [0x81005900-0x810e1000] available
>     Jifl> FLASH: 0x80000000-0x803fffff, 8 x 0x2000 blocks, 63 x 0x10000 blocks
>     RedBoot> 
> 
>     Jifl> I don't think this is strictly compliant with 2(c) in the
>     Jifl> letter, but it is in the spirit and I don't have an issue
>     Jifl> with it.
> 
>     Jifl> Ok compromise?
> 
> I don't like this very much. It muddles the difference between free as
> in beer vs. free as in speech. "Free Software" instead of "free
> software" would be a small improvement, but still not enough.
> Many people seem to struggle with understanding licensing as it is.
> 
> We don't have ecosconfig outputting a banner, which is fair enough as
> it is not currently an interactive tool. We don't have the configtool
> putting up a temporary message box mentioning the GPL while starting
> up, although arguably that should (of course the licensing situation
> is different for host-side than for the target-side). Having RedBoot
> output some text that includes the phrase "GNU General Public License"

At fisrt, thank you all for debates and your points. When I asked about
I was concerned the lines order and I thought that new banner is very
verbal. eCos/RedBoot user guide has a lot the RedBoot startup "screen
shorts" and I thought "new" banner will "hide" the real startup screen
with some explanations in the guide text.  I would prefer to see no more
than 2-3 lines in that place, and I did think that you can put one
line with GPL version and one line with GPL URL there.

E.g.,

man cp

G

Copyright  ©  2008  Free Software Foundation, Inc.  License GPLv3+: GNU
GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>

It seems for me that GPL URL would be quite enougth there. And I agree
with Jonathan that "version" or even "help" (=man ?) commands can output
4-5 license lines.

Thank you,

Sergei

> seems quite reasonable to me. Maybe, just maybe, it will make some
> people realize that it is not a free-for-all and that there are
> licensing conditions to be satisfied.
> 
> Bart
>     
> -- 
> Bart Veer                                   eCos Configuration Architect
> eCosCentric Limited    The eCos experts      http://www.ecoscentric.com/
> Barnwell House, Barnwell Drive, Cambridge, UK.      Tel: +44 1223 245571
> Registered in England and Wales: Reg No 4422071.
> 
> -- 
> Before posting, please read the FAQ: http://ecos.sourceware.org/fom/ecos
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