[ECOS] RedBoot banner

Bart Veer bartv@ecoscentric.com
Tue Feb 3 16:13:00 GMT 2009


>>>>> "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"
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.

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