Blogger Accuses Asus of Infringing GPL with Eee PC
Cliff Biffle, a US blogger, accuses Asus of infringements against the GPL with the software on ist Eee PC.
Writing on the subject of the recent presentation of the Asus mini-notebook, "Eee PC", in his blog, Biffle claims that modifications to the Open Source components infringe on the GPL. Biffle says that he has downloaded 1.8GB of source code from both the US and the Taiwanese sites and checked the code. He discovered that the code does not include all sources. Nor does the source code contain modifications by the PC vendor, and the required documentation was also missing.
In his test report Biffle describes what he discovered about the purported source code the download. He writes that the Zip archive includes just a couple of Debian installation packages, some of which were older versions than those supplied with the device, along with the kernel headers. He goes on to write that Asus has made major changes to the "asus_acpi" kernel modul for kernel 2.6.21.4, but without publishing, or disclosing and documenting the changes. In Biffle’s opinion the vendor has taken steps to remove details of the modifications and the new functionality offered by the module. The modified modules now no longer contain typical information such as the module name, version and authoring information, as these details have simply been removed.
The Madwifi for the Atheros WiFi chip has also been modified says Biffle. However, there is no need to publish these changes as the Madwifi is dual licensed under the GPL and the BSD license, which means that Asus can keep the changes to itself.
It also looks like Asus is using the multipurpose Busybox binary in the Initramfs system image but without keeping to GPL rules. The developers of Busybox are currently working with the Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) to defend their rights in a court of law, if needed.
The blog author writes that he and other people have contacted Asus but without receiving a response. Biffle hopes that Asus will simply say "Oops!", admit its error, and update the Zip archive.
Issue 272/2023
Buy this issue as a PDF
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
News
-
An All-Snap Version of Ubuntu is In The Works
Along with the standard deb version of the open-source operating system, Canonical will release an-all snap version.
-
Mageia 9 Beta 2 Ready for Testing
The latest beta of the popular Mageia distribution now includes the latest kernel and plenty of updated applications.
-
KDE Plasma 6 Looks to Bring Basic HDR Support
The KWin piece of KDE Plasma now has HDR support and color management geared for the 6.0 release.
-
Bodhi Linux 7.0 Beta Ready for Testing
The latest iteration of the Bohdi Linux distribution is now available for those who want to experience what's in store and for testing purposes.
-
Changes Coming to Ubuntu PPA Usage
The way you manage Personal Package Archives will be changing with the release of Ubuntu 23.10.
-
AlmaLinux 9.2 Now Available for Download
AlmaLinux has been released and provides a free alternative to upstream Red Hat Enterprise Linux.
-
An Immutable Version of Fedora Is Under Consideration
For anyone who's a fan of using immutable versions of Linux, the Fedora team is currently considering adding a new spin called Fedora Onyx.
-
New Release of Br OS Includes ChatGPT Integration
Br OS 23.04 is now available and is geared specifically toward web content creation.
-
Command-Line Only Peropesis 2.1 Available Now
The latest iteration of Peropesis has been released with plenty of updates and introduces new software development tools.
-
TUXEDO Computers Announces InfinityBook Pro 14
With the new generation of their popular InfinityBook Pro 14, TUXEDO upgrades its ultra-mobile, powerful business laptop with some impressive specs.