OpenWrt One round 2 of 2

[DiffieHellman]

Hi Denver,

We're all friends here and friends should not lie to friends.

>Yes, you can delete Linux and use the software, you just need something else to put where Linux used to be. You could put FreeBSD or NetBSD or other OSes there if you like.
Denver, with your skills, you know that Linux is only a kernel and is not an OS - why are you lying by claiming it is an OS?

The kernel of "Free"BSD or NetBSD or "Open"BSD or any other OS would not do, as the software is written to only work with the kernel, Linux, for the BusyBox/Linux OS (although GNU/Linux would work too).

As can be seen here in the photo; https://openwrt.org/toh/openwrt/one the SoC on the board is the MediaTek MT7981BA, which the following software is for; mt7981_rom_patch.bin mt7981_wa.bin mt7981_wm.bin mt7981_wo.bin

There is also the AIROHA EN8811HN Ethernet Chip, which the following software is for; EthMD32.dm.bin EthMD32.DSP.bin

No BSD has support for that SoC or Ethernet Chip;
https://www.openbsd.org/arm64.html
https://www.freebsd.org/releases/14.2R/hardware/#proc-arm-64
https://netbsd.org/ports/

I also made a few online searches, but I could not find any other kernel or OS that supports it - all I found was a few routers that run BusyBox/Linux and therefore it's Linux *only*.


The files alone really don't make any sense, as what are you even meant to do with them really?;
https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/mediatek
https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/airoha

There is no instructions in linux-firmware.git as to how to load and use the nonstandard software after all.


So you look around in Linux and what do you find?;
https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7915/mt7915.h#n37
https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/wireless/mediatek/mt76/mt7915/soc.c#n1315
https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/phy/air_en8811h.c#n22
https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/phy/air_en8811h.c#n450


That's right, you find the other needed half of the driver and it all starts to make sense - half the driver is in linux.git, the other half of the driver is in "linux-firmware.git" and both combine
into a single program.

Half happens to run on a different microprocessor in a different address space, but that's irrelevant, as it's not like a generic interface has been implemented - instead a very specific, Linux-only
interface has been crafted, that is a derivative work of GPLv2 parts of Linux and the peripheral software is a derivative work of that GPLv2 interface - as per the GPLv2, everything should be released in
source form under a GPLv2-compatible license, as anything else would be copyright infringement.

>Nothing about these proprietary blobs depends on Linux, nor are these blobs derivative of Linux.
Denver, with your skills and experience, you knew they couldn't be anything but derivative of Linux, but you lied to your friend?


The proprietary license on the files is quite interesting too;
https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/LICENCE.mediatek
https://web.git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/firmware/linux-firmware.git/tree/LICENSE.airoha

"(MediaTek|Airoha) Inc. grants permission to use and redistribute aforementioned firmware
files for the use with devices containing MediaTek chipsets, but not as part of
the Linux kernel or in any other form which would require these files themselves
to be covered by the terms of the GNU General Public License or the GNU Lesser
General Public License. <snip>"

They try to say that they're not part of Linux, but how could they be anything but part of Linux, as you can't use them without Linux?


If they are not derivative works, I'm sure someone will be able to point out which other kernel or OS that contains a driver right now that you can use such proprietary programs with.


Denver, you could have told the truth and written; "We know, but we also know we'll get away with it", or even; "My lawyer has advised me to claim that they are not derivative works, as they're definitely
 not.", but instead you lied to your friend.



As can be seen, Mediatek/Airoha, the "SFC" and the device seller are intentionally infringing copyright for profit, or for funding (and they'll get away with it too), but that's nothing compared to
the moral wrong of denying freedom to the users with proprietary software that they are committing.

-- 
Kind Regards, DiffieHellman