GPL – Terence Eden’s Blog https://shkspr.mobi/blog Regular nonsense about tech and its effects πŸ™ƒ Wed, 11 Mar 2026 09:17:08 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://shkspr.mobi/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/cropped-avatar-32x32.jpeg GPL – Terence Eden’s Blog https://shkspr.mobi/blog 32 32 <![CDATA[Free Software as in Free House]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/12/free-software-as-in-free-house/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/12/free-software-as-in-free-house/#comments Wed, 22 Dec 2021 12:34:17 +0000 https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=41362 Much like a Tesla, all analogies break down eventually.

As many many many people have said - free software is free, in much the same way as a free puppy is free.

I prefer to think of it as being free just like being given a free house is free.

Imagine that! Being given a free house would solve so many immediate problems. You'd have shelter, warmth, an administrative address, and a stake in the local community. All for free! Brilliant!

Of course, your furniture isn't going to quite fit. So let's knock down that wall. Pretty sure it isn't load bearing. Those creaking noises add character.

And, ugh! This wallpaper. Let's steam that off and give everything a nice coat of paint. Lovely. OK, we didn't have time to paint everything, so some walls are a different colour from others in the same room. We'll get used to it.

For some reason, the toilet is inside the shower. I'm sure that made sense for the old owner, but not for us. Let's re-do the bathroom. In doing so, we find that all the plumbing is a bit rotten. Can we live with that? Nah, let's unblock what we can, replace some of it, and do the rest when we have time. For some reason hot water now comes out of the stove. We'll put a sign up warning people.

Everyone has smart lights - we should too! But, it turns out that our wiring used the old standard. And we can't find anyone willing to work on it. How hard can rewiring a house be? Sure, we got a few shocks, and the whole house buzzes with static, and the new bulbs burn out quite frequently, but we added smart-tech to this old property!

We asked people in the local community if they could help with any of this - but they were so rude! OK, we weren't offering any money, and we kept asking daft questions, but there was no need to tell us to RTFM.

One prominent member of the community sent us loads of abuse. Apparently they can't be removed because no one else is as good as them at fixing all the broken windows and, besides, a code of conduct would add unnecessary drama.

Anyway, it turns out that the locks on the doors used the default key and we never bothered to change them. Someone broke in and stole all our stuff. And left surveillance cameras in the bedroom.

All analogies break down eventually - and I think I've stretched this one far enough.

Open source is a gift and a burden. If you just want to use something like Firefox as an end consumer, it is great. If you want to use something like WordPress, you're getting closer to free-house territory. Integrating a complex ecosystem of intertwined libraries into your existing systems is full-blown free-house territory.

There are no clear borders here - just a way of thinking about the cost of free.

You can't escape these problems by paying for a house. Even designing and building your own property comes with its own challenges.

You always need to understand the cost of a free gift.

]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2021/12/free-software-as-in-free-house/feed/ 5 <![CDATA[BMW *are* complying with the GPL]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2016/03/bmw-are-complying-with-the-gpl/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2016/03/bmw-are-complying-with-the-gpl/#comments Tue, 29 Mar 2016 21:19:33 +0000 https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=22667 The good news follow-up rarely gets as much attention as the original bad-news story.

Earlier this month I accidentally kicked off a minor kerfuffle over whether BMW was respecting the GPL. Their i3 car contains a huge amount of Open Source Software and there was some confusion as to BMW's compliance with the licence terms.

I took a look through the car's user interface and, hidden away, was this email address. BMW GPL Email Address

I dropped them an email. And then a reminder.

Well, today I received this letter in the post:

BMW GPL Letter-

With this ancient piece of spinning media :-) BMW GPL DVD-

That's 950MB of open source goodness!

Mirror

To save you having to get a DVD shipped to your location, I've mirrored the files on GitHub. A file tree is also provided at the end of this blog post.

Lots of interesting - and outdated - software packages in there.

Lessons

  • In my original blog post, I speculated on BMW's GPL compliance, that was irresponsible of me.
  • Large companies move slowly. It's tempting to go off on a Twitter crusade if you haven't heard back after five minutes. Patience, grasshopper.
  • Customer service agents are geared up to deal with normal queries. It's unfair to take them to task for not understanding software licences.
  • BMW would do well to set up a simple website or FTP site containing all of this data. Or, at the very least, making it more obvious how to obtain it.
  • Open Source Software is wonderful!

File Listing

You can download from GitHub - but here's a quick list of everything on the DVD. Enjoy!

.
β”œβ”€β”€ [7.1M Sep 14  2011]  1000-com.st.havana.kernel-207-7.patch
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  alsa-intf-git-r3
β”‚   └── [202K Jul  8  2014]  alsa-intf-git-r3-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  alsa-lib
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 558 Jul  8  2014]  alsa-lib-1.0.24.1-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [813K Jul  8  2014]  alsa-lib-1.0.24.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [790K Feb  9  2012]  alsa-lib-1.0.21a-23.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [992K Feb  9  2012]  alsa-utils-1.0.16.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 24K Feb  9  2012]  anacron-2.3.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.4M Jan 26  2012]  apache-etch-1.1.0-incubating-src.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.1M Jan 26  2012]  apr-1.3.8.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.2M Jan 26  2012]  asn1c-0.9.21.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.4M Sep 23  2013]  asn1c-0.9.24.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  atk
β”‚   └── [729K Jul  8  2014]  atk-2.2.0.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  attr
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 666 Jul  8  2014]  attr-2.4.46-r3-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [330K Jul  8  2014]  attr-2.4.46.src.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  audiorouter-git-r1
β”‚   └── [ 20K Jul  8  2014]  audiorouter-git-r1-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 56K Feb  9  2012]  autofs-3.1.7.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  base-files
β”‚   └── [3.4K Jul  8  2014]  base-files-1.0-r3-patches.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  base-passwd
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [1.5K Jul  8  2014]  base-passwd-3.5.22-r10-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [ 71K Jul  8  2014]  base-passwd_3.5.22.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 45K Feb  9  2012]  base-passwd-3.5.9.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.3M Feb  9  2012]  bash-3.0.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [272K Feb  9  2012]  bc-1.06.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 87K Feb 10  2012]  BigDigits-2.3.0.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  bigreqsproto
β”‚   └── [100K Jul  8  2014]  bigreqsproto-1.1.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 15M Feb  9  2012]  binutils-2.19.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  busybox
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 14K Jul  8  2014]  busybox-1.18.5-r44.0-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [2.0M Jul  8  2014]  busybox-1.18.5.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0M Feb  9  2012]  busybox-1.18.2.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  cairo
β”‚   └── [ 22M Jul  8  2014]  cairo-1.10.2.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [592K Mar  8  2013]  capu-2012.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [653K Feb  9  2012]  console-tools-0.2.3.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 58K Feb  9  2012]  cron-3.0pl1.orig.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  cronie
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [1.0K Jul  8  2014]  cronie-1.4.8-r2-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [205K Jul  8  2014]  cronie-1.4.8.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  cups
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [1.2K Jul  8  2014]  cups-1.4.6-r2-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [4.3M Jul  8  2014]  cups-1.4.6-source.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [3.3M Jan 26  2012]  curl-7.21.0.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  dbus
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [2.1K Jul  8  2014]  dbus-1.4.16-r1.0-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [1.8M Jul  8  2014]  dbus-1.4.16.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  dbus-glib
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 530 Jul  8  2014]  dbus-glib-0.92-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [671K Jul  8  2014]  dbus-glib-0.92.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [131K Feb  9  2012]  debianutils_3.2.1.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [479K Feb  9  2012]  deltarpm-3.4.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 174 Feb 11  7:02]  desktop.ini
β”œβ”€β”€ [3.3M Jan 26  2012]  DevIL-1.7.8.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.0M Feb  9  2012]  dhcp-4.1.0a1.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  dhcpcd
β”‚   └── [ 69K Jul  8  2014]  dhcpcd-5.2.10.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.7M Nov 24  2011]  DiBcom_SDK_Release_8.11.18.GPL.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.9M Feb  9  2012]  DirectFB-1.4.3.STM2010.03.10.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  dnsmasq
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [5.0K Jul  8  2014]  dnsmasq-2.55-r2-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [431K Jul  8  2014]  dnsmasq-2.55-r2-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [393K Feb  9  2012]  dnsmasq-2.50.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  e2fsprogs
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [2.8K Jul  8  2014]  e2fsprogs-1.42-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [5.4M Jul  8  2014]  e2fsprogs-1.42.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  eglibc
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [5.5K Jul  8  2014]  eglibc-2.13-r20+svnr15508-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [ 22M Jul  8  2014]  eglibc-2.13-r20+svnr15508-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  eglibc-initial
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [5.5K Jul  8  2014]  eglibc-initial-2.13-r20+svnr15508-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [ 22M Jul  8  2014]  eglibc-initial-2.13-r20+svnr15508-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [127K Feb  9  2012]  ethtool-6.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  eventlog
β”‚   └── [296K Jul  8  2014]  eventlog_0.2.12.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  exosip
β”‚   └── [222K Jul  8  2014]  exosip-3.5.0-r0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  exosip4
β”‚   └── [247K Jul  8  2014]  exosip4-4.0.0-r0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  expat
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 543 Jul  8  2014]  expat-2.0.1-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [436K Jul  8  2014]  expat-2.0.1.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 16K Feb 10  2012]  ezxml-0.8.6.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  fastjar
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [1.4K Jul  8  2014]  fastjar-0.98-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [701K Jul  8  2014]  fastjar-0.98.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 27K Feb  9  2012]  fbset_2.1.orig.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [760K Feb  9  2012]  findutils_4.1.20.orig.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  flex
β”‚   └── [1.2M Jul  8  2014]  flex-2.5.35.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  fontconfig
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 534 Jul  8  2014]  fontconfig-2.8.0-r4-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [1.5M Jul  8  2014]  fontconfig-2.8.0.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  FreeScale
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [4.7M Jan 30  2015]  linux-2.6.35.3-imx_10.12.01.bz2
β”‚   └── [ 67M Jan 30  2015]  linux-2.6.35.3.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  freetype
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 399 Jul  8  2014]  freetype-2.4.8-r0-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [1.4M Jul  8  2014]  freetype-2.4.8.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.4M Feb  9  2012]  freetype-2.3.11.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [160K Jan 26  2012]  freetype-doc-2.1.10.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [653K Aug 19  2011]  fribidi-0.19.2.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [156K Feb  9  2012]  ft2demos-2.3.11.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 63M Feb  9  2012]  gcc-4.5.0.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 20M Feb  9  2012]  gdb-6.8.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  gdk-pixbuf
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [1.2K Jul  8  2014]  gdk-pixbuf-2.24.0-r2-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [1.6M Jul  8  2014]  gdk-pixbuf-2.24.0.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  giflib
β”‚   └── [494K Jul  8  2014]  giflib-4.1.6.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 15M Feb  9  2012]  glibc-2.10.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [571K Feb  9  2012]  glibc-ports-2.10.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [3.9M Jul  3  2014]  glm-0.9.5.3.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  gnujaf
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [153K Jul  8  2014]  activation-1.1.1.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [1.1K Jul  8  2014]  gnujaf-1.1.1-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  gnumail
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 522 Jul  8  2014]  gnumail-1.1.2-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [310K Jul  8  2014]  mail-1.1.2.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  gtk+
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [4.0K Jul  8  2014]  gtk+-2.24.8-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [ 16M Jul  8  2014]  gtk+-2.24.8.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  hostap-git-r3
β”‚   └── [2.2M Jul  8  2014]  hostap-git-r3-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [338K Feb  9  2012]  ifupdown_0.6.7.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  inetlib
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 528 Jul  8  2014]  inetlib-1.1.1-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [238K Jul  8  2014]  inetlib-1.1.1.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  initscripts
β”‚   └── [ 16K Jul  8  2014]  initscripts-1.0-r129-patches.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  inputproto
β”‚   └── [152K Jul  8  2014]  inputproto-2.0.2.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  iproute2
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [1014 Jul  8  2014]  iproute2-3.2.0-r0-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [521K Jul  8  2014]  iproute2-3.2.0-r0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [362K Feb  9  2012]  iproute2-2.6.33.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  iptables
β”‚   └── [462K Jul  8  2014]  iptables-1.4.12.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 87K Feb  9  2012]  iputils-s20071127.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [102K Feb 10  2012]  jasherai-oniguruma-09254fa.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  jpeg-8c-r3
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 12K Jul  8  2014]  jpeg-8c-r3-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [964K Jul  8  2014]  jpegsrc.v8c.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [938K Feb  9  2012]  jpegsrc.v7.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [968K Jan 26  2012]  jpegsrc.v8d.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [115K Jul  3  2014]  jsoncpp-src-0.6.0-rc2.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  kbd
β”‚   └── [1016K Jul  8  2014]  kbd-1.15.2.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  kbproto
β”‚   └── [109K Jul  8  2014]  kbproto-1.0.5.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  keymaps
β”‚   └── [7.1K Jul  8  2014]  keymaps-1.0-r20-patches.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 37K Feb  9  2012]  keyutils-1.2.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [286K Feb  9  2012]  less-394.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libasrc
β”‚   └── [ 36K Jul  8  2014]  libasrc-1.0.0-r0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libcap
β”‚   └── [ 59K Jul  8  2014]  libcap-2.22.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 52K Feb  9  2012]  libcap-2.16.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libffi
β”‚   └── [736K Jul  8  2014]  libffi-3.0.10.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libgcrypt
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [1.0K Jul  8  2014]  libgcrypt-1.5.0-r0-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [1.7M Jul  8  2014]  libgcrypt-1.5.0.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libgpg-error
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [1.0K Jul  8  2014]  libgpg-error-1.10-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [429K Jul  8  2014]  libgpg-error-1.10.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libhardware-git-r4
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 899 Jul  8  2014]  libhardware-git-r4-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [ 39K Jul  8  2014]  libhardware-git-r4-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libice
β”‚   └── [316K Jul  8  2014]  libICE-1.0.7.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  lib-libmnl
β”‚   └── [ 45K Jul  8  2014]  lib-libmnl-1.0-r0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  liblinenoise
β”‚   └── [ 13K Jul  8  2014]  liblinenoise-1.0-r0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [522K Feb  9  2012]  libmtp-0.2.6.1.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libogg
β”‚   └── [415K Jul  8  2014]  libogg-1.3.0.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [803K Feb  9  2012]  liboil-0.3.15.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libol
β”‚   └── [338K Jul  8  2014]  libol-0.3.18.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libpcap
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 550 Jul  8  2014]  libpcap-1.1.1-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [568K Jul  8  2014]  libpcap-1.1.1.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [508K Feb  9  2012]  libpcap-0.9.8.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [615K Feb  9  2012]  libpng-1.2.40.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [805K Jan 26  2012]  libpng-1.4.3.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libpthread-stubs
β”‚   └── [199K Jul  8  2014]  libpthread-stubs-0.3.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libsm
β”‚   └── [278K Jul  8  2014]  libSM-1.2.0.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libtool-cross
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [2.5M Jul  8  2014]  libtool-2.4.2.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [7.1K Jul  8  2014]  libtool-cross-2.4.2-r1.1-patches.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [380K Feb  9  2012]  libusb-0.1.12.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libusb1
β”‚   └── [324K Jul  8  2014]  libusb-1.0.8.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libusb-compat
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [245K Jul  8  2014]  libusb-compat-0.1.3.tar.bz2
β”‚   └── [ 606 Jul  8  2014]  libusb-compat-1_0.1.3-r2-patches.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libx11
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 975 Jul  8  2014]  libx11-1.4.4-r0-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [2.2M Jul  8  2014]  libX11-1.4.4.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libxau
β”‚   └── [255K Jul  8  2014]  libXau-1.0.6.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libxcb
β”‚   └── [364K Jul  8  2014]  libxcb-1.8.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libxdmcp
β”‚   └── [282K Jul  8  2014]  libXdmcp-1.1.0.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libxext
β”‚   └── [333K Jul  8  2014]  libXext-1.3.0.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libxi
β”‚   └── [413K Jul  8  2014]  libXi-1.4.3.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libxinerama
β”‚   └── [260K Jul  8  2014]  libXinerama-1.1.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libxml2
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 827 Jul  8  2014]  libxml2-2.7.8-r5-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [4.7M Jul  8  2014]  libxml2-2.7.8.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libxrender
β”‚   └── [252K Jul  8  2014]  libXrender-0.9.6.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libxt
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 577 Jul  8  2014]  libxt-1_1.1.1-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [699K Jul  8  2014]  libXt-1.1.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  libxtst
β”‚   └── [275K Jul  8  2014]  libXtst-1.2.0.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  linphone
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [1.1K Jul  8  2014]  linphone-3.5.2-r0-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [6.6M Jul  8  2014]  linphone-3.5.2-r0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 61M Feb 14  2012]  linux-2.6.32.28.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  linux-libc-headers
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 74M Jul  8  2014]  linux-3.1.tar.bz2
β”‚   └── [ 756 Jul  8  2014]  linux-libc-headers-3.1-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  linux-quic-git-2186caf8a22515c67d814a04143f421a789b874d-r3
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [102M Jul  8  2014]  linux-quic.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [   0 Jul  8  2014]  symlinks_resolved
β”œβ”€β”€ [713K Feb  9  2012]  lirc-0.8.6.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  lk-git-r3
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 694 Jul  8  2014]  lk-git-r3-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [3.2M Jul  8  2014]  lk-git-r3-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [840K Feb  9  2012]  lm_sensors-2.9.2.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  loc-api-git-r3
β”‚   └── [279K Jul  8  2014]  loc-api-git-r3-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  loc-api-test
β”‚   └── [9.2K Jul  8  2014]  loc-api-test-1.0-r2-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  logrotate
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 627 Jul  8  2014]  logrotate-3.7.9-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [ 44K Jul  8  2014]  logrotate-3.7.9.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [273K Feb  9  2012]  ltrace_0.5.1.orig.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [212K Jan 26  2012]  lua-5.1.4.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [916K Feb  9  2012]  LVM2.2.02.73.tgz
β”œβ”€β”€ [528K Jan 14  2014]  lwip-1.3.0.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  lzo
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [2.4K Jul  8  2014]  lzo-2.06-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [569K Jul  8  2014]  lzo-2.06.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [9.7K Feb  9  2012]  makedev-2.3.1.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  mediastreamer2
β”‚   └── [537K Jul  8  2014]  mediastreamer2-2.8.8-r0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.7K Jul  8  2011]  memio-1.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 21K Feb  9  2012]  memstat_0.4.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [120K Feb  9  2012]  module-init-tools-3.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [102K Mar  7  2013]  mongoose-3.0.tgz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  ncurses
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 898 Jul  8  2014]  ncurses-5.9-r9.1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [2.7M Jul  8  2014]  ncurses-5.9.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.2M Feb  9  2012]  ncurses-5.5.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  netbase
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [1.4K Jul  8  2014]  netbase-4.47-r0-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [ 35K Jul  8  2014]  netbase_4.47.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 32K Feb  9  2012]  netbase_4.34.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [131K Feb  9  2012]  netkit-telnet_0.17.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 20K Feb  9  2012]  netkit-tftp_0.10.orig.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [259K Feb  9  2012]  net-tools_1.60.orig.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [260K Feb  9  2012]  nfs-utils-1.0.6.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [3.2M Feb  9  2012]  ntp-4.2.4p7.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.2M Feb  9  2012]  nvi-1.79.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  ocf-linux-20100325-r3
β”‚   └── [596K Jul  8  2014]  ocf-linux-20100325.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.9M Sep 15  2014]  OpenCTM-1.0.3-src.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  openjdk-7-jre-25b30
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 65M Jul  8  2014]  openjdk-7-jre-25b30-2.3.12-r5.1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [4.4M Jul  8  2014]  openjdk-7-jre-25b30-2.3.12-r5.1-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  open-source-kernel-tests-git-r2
β”‚   └── [ 21K Jul  8  2014]  open-source-kernel-tests-git-r2-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [1016K Feb  9  2012]  openssh-5.1p1.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  openssl
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 31K Jul  8  2014]  openssl-1.0.0f-r15.0-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [3.9M Jul  8  2014]  openssl-1.0.0f.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [3.6M Jan 26  2012]  openssl-0.9.8j.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [3.7M Jan 26  2012]  openssl-0.9.8k.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [3.8M Feb  9  2012]  openssl-1.0.0a.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  opkg
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [5.0K Jul  8  2014]  opkg-1_0.1.8+svnr633-r7.0-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [170K Jul  8  2014]  opkg-1_0.1.8+svnr633-r7.0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  ortp
β”‚   └── [176K Jul  8  2014]  ortp-0.20.0-r0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  osip
β”‚   └── [355K Jul  8  2014]  osip-3.5.0-r0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  osip4
β”‚   └── [359K Jul  8  2014]  osip4-4.0.0-r0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  pango
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [3.5K Jul  8  2014]  pango-1.28.4-r6-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [2.0M Jul  8  2014]  pango-1.28.4-r6-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  perl
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 49K Jul  8  2014]  perl-5.14.2-r2-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [ 15M Jul  8  2014]  perl-5.14.2.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  pimd-git-r1
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 632 Jul  8  2014]  pimd-git-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [235K Jul  8  2014]  pimd-git-r1-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  pixman
β”‚   └── [457K Jul  8  2014]  pixman-0.24.2.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [382K Feb  9  2012]  pmount_0.9.20.orig.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  popt
β”‚   └── [686K Jul  8  2014]  popt-1.16.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 18K Feb  9  2012]  portmap_5beta.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  powerapp-git-r5
β”‚   └── [5.3K Jul  8  2014]  powerapp-git-r5-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [275K Feb  9  2012]  procps-3.2.7.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.8M Jan 14  2014]  protobuf-2.3.0.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.4M Jan 26  2012]  protobuf-2.4.1.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [565K Jan 14  2014]  ptpd-2.1.0.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  reboot-daemon
β”‚   └── [3.0K Jul  8  2014]  reboot-daemon-1.0-r2-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  recordproto
β”‚   └── [110K Jul  8  2014]  recordproto-1.14.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  renderproto
β”‚   └── [103K Jul  8  2014]  renderproto-0.11.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [  44 Feb 10  2012]  rootfs readme.txt
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  run-postinsts
β”‚   └── [ 536 Jul  8  2014]  run-postinsts-1.0-r7-patches.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 90K Feb  9  2012]  SaWMan-1.4.3+git0.9dd19ef38313.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 51K Feb  9  2012]  setserial_2.17.orig.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 26K Aug 26  2013]  SHA1INDEX.idx
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  shadow
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [3.1K Jul  8  2014]  shadow-4.1.4.3-r7-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [1.7M Jul  8  2014]  shadow-4.1.4.3.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.6M Feb  9  2012]  shadow-4.1.2.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  shadow-sysroot
β”‚   └── [4.6K Jul  8  2014]  shadow-sysroot-4.1.4.3-r0-patches.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  shared-mime-info
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [478K Jul  8  2014]  shared-mime-info-0.91-r3-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [1.0M Jul  8  2014]  shared-mime-info-0.91-r3-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 32K May 17  2011]  ShrRAM-baseline.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  sipgateway
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [2.9K Jul  8  2014]  sipgateway-1.0-r0-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [ 49K Jul  8  2014]  sipgateway-1.0-r0-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  speex
β”‚   └── [1.0M Jul  8  2014]  speex-1.2rc1.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0M Feb  9  2012]  sqlite-3.6.0.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.3M Jan 26  2012]  sqlite-amalgamation-3071000.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 61K Mar 24  2011]  stlinux23-sh4-vid_firmware-dev-hv10-36.sh4.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 62K Sep  2  2011]  stlinux24-host-havana-frontend-source-2.6-4.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [180K Sep 13  2011]  stlinux24-host-infrastructure-source-1.7-1.noarch.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [258K Mar 24  2011]  stlinux24-host-linux-fusion-source-8.2.0-1.noarch.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.5M Sep 13  2011]  stlinux24-host-multicom-source-4.0.5+4.0.51.Orly-4.noarch.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.2M Sep 12  2011]  stlinux24-host-player2-source-int228-1.noarch.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.4M Sep 13  2011]  stlinux24-host-stmfb-source-4.0_stm24_0216-1.noarch.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [7.1M Feb  9  2012]  stlinux24-host-u-boot-source-sh4-1.3.1_stm24_0047-47.src.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [112K Mar 24  2011]  stlinux24-sh4-fdma-firmware-20101130-4.noarch.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [5.4K Mar 24  2011]  stlinux24-sh4-linux-fusion-headers-8.2.0-2.noarch.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [721K Sep 13  2011]  stlinux24-sh4-linux-kernel-headers-2.6.32.16-44.1havana5.noarch.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 10K Mar 24  2011]  stlinux24-sh4-stmfb-firmware-1.20-1.noarch.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 20K Sep 13  2011]  stlinux24-sh4-stmfb-headers-4.0_stm24_0216-1.noarch.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 75K Sep 13  2011]  stlinux24-sh4-vid_firmware-dev-hv11-2.sh4.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [4.5M Sep 13  2011]  stlinux24-sh4-vid_firmware-mpeg4p2-hv11-2.sh4.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.8K Feb 14  2012]  stlinux24-target-directfb-multi-1.4.3+STM2010.10.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [148M Feb 10  2012]  stlinux24-target-qt-embedded-4.6.0-27.src.rpm
β”œβ”€β”€ [447K Feb  9  2012]  strace-4.5.16.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [770K Feb  9  2012]  sysfsutils-2.1.0.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 85K Feb  9  2012]  sysklogd-1.5.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  syslog-ng
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [2.4K Jul  8  2014]  syslog-ng-3.4.7-r6.1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [3.1M Jul  8  2014]  syslog-ng_3.4.7.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [205K Feb  9  2012]  sysstat-8.0.0.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  system-core-git-r6
β”‚   └── [915K Jul  8  2014]  system-core-git-r6-prepatch.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  sysvinit
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [4.3K Jul  8  2014]  sysvinit-2.88dsf-r5-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [103K Jul  8  2014]  sysvinit-2.88dsf.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 96K Feb  9  2012]  sysvinit_2.86.ds1.orig.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  sysvinit-inittab
β”‚   └── [ 643 Jul  8  2014]  sysvinit-inittab-2.88dsf-r8-patches.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  tcpdump
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [1.7K Jul  8  2014]  tcpdump-4.1.1-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [1.5M Jul  8  2014]  tcpdump-4.1.1.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 97K Feb  9  2012]  tcp_wrappers_7.6.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [262K Feb  9  2012]  termcap-2.0.8.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [129K Feb  9  2012]  thttpd-2.25b.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [1.3M Feb  9  2012]  tiff-3.9.1.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  tinylogin
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [9.4K Jul  8  2014]  tinylogin-1.4-r8-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [ 96K Jul  8  2014]  tinylogin-1.4.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [114K Sep 17  2014]  tinyxml2-1.0.11.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [177K Jan 26  2012]  tinyxml_2_4_2.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [284K Mar  8  2013]  tinyxml_2_6_2.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 11K Jan 26  2012]  tlsf-2.0.zip
β”œβ”€β”€ [7.3K Jan 26  2012]  trex_1_3.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 46K Feb  9  2012]  tslib-1.0.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [6.0K May 17  2011]  uCblaze-baseline.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [535K Feb  9  2012]  udev-162.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 43K Feb  9  2012]  udhcp-0.9.8.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [241K Feb  9  2012]  usbutils-0.86.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  util-linux
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [4.7K Jul  8  2014]  util-linux-2.20.1-r2-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [4.4M Jul  8  2014]  util-linux-2.20.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [4.6M Feb  9  2012]  util-linux_2.16.1.orig.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  util-macros
β”‚   └── [ 89K Jul  8  2014]  util-macros-1.16.1.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [172K Feb  9  2012]  vlan.1.9.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [ 41K Feb  9  2012]  vlms-0.2.3.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.3M Feb  9  2012]  wget-1.12.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  wireless-tools-1_29-r2
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [1.8K Jul  8  2014]  wireless-tools-1_29-r2-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [288K Jul  8  2014]  wireless_tools.29.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  xcb-proto
β”‚   └── [102K Jul  8  2014]  xcb-proto-1.7.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  xcmiscproto
β”‚   └── [100K Jul  8  2014]  xcmiscproto-1.2.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  xextproto
β”‚   └── [203K Jul  8  2014]  xextproto-7.2.0.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  xf86bigfontproto
β”‚   └── [ 48K Jul  8  2014]  xf86bigfontproto-1.2.0.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  xineramaproto
β”‚   └── [ 94K Jul  8  2014]  xineramaproto-1.2.1.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [295K Feb  9  2012]  xinetd-2.3.14.tar.gz
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  xproto
β”‚   β”œβ”€β”€ [ 655 Jul  8  2014]  xproto-1_7.0.22-r1-patches.tar.gz
β”‚   └── [275K Jul  8  2014]  xproto-7.0.22.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  xtrans
β”‚   └── [153K Jul  8  2014]  xtrans-1.2.6.tar.bz2
β”œβ”€β”€ [2.0K Mar 16 14:32]  zip
β”‚   └── [1.1M Jul  8  2014]  zip30.tgz
β”œβ”€β”€ [485K Feb  9  2012]  zlib-1.2.3.tar.gz
└── [532K Jan 26  2012]  zlib-1.2.5.tar.gz

122 directories, 317 files
]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2016/03/bmw-are-complying-with-the-gpl/feed/ 2 <![CDATA[BMW and the GPL]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2016/03/bmw-and-the-gpl/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2016/03/bmw-and-the-gpl/#comments Fri, 11 Mar 2016 12:33:53 +0000 https://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=22561 I accidentally caused a little brouhaha last week - for which I would like to apologise.

In my blog post about BMW's unencrypted software updates, I said:

Judging from the files, it would appear that the infotainment system is made by Magneti Marelli with components by Wind River, AutoSAR, and Nvidia Tegra. Looking at the copious mentions of systemd and freedesktop it's a Linux system!

Hmmm... I wonder if they're respecting the GPL...?

I want to make it clear that, at the time, I had no evidence to suggest that any Open Source Software was being used in my vehicle. It was idle speculation on my part.

Anyway, some kind Internet stranger decided to fire off an email to BMW Australia demanding access to the source code. The customer service agents refused.

...customer must provide the 7 digit VIN and accept the usage rights agreement. Part of the usage rights agreement states that the software is protected by copyright and BMW is the sole owner. So in this case it is not subject to the requirements of a "Public" licence

BMW Australia

It would be an exaggeration to say "at which point all hell broke loose" - but there were some sternly worded tweets and comments condemning BMW for their abuse of Free Software.

Here's the thing - contacting customer services like that was entirely the wrong approach. Customer services aren't trained for the 0.001% of people who might be interested in an esoteric matter of legal licensing. Crying foul because a minimum wage rep didn't understand an obscure technical reference is counter productive.

A quick search shows a BMW Open Source site which is highly active. An email to them, or to BMW's head office, or their legal team, would have generated a far more useful reply.

As it happens, someone within BMW contacted me to explain where the Open Source Licences are within the vehicle. I'll be honest, they are well hidden - and not referenced in the user manual as far as I could see - but they are there.

Here's proof:

Now, this is a somewhat of a "beware of the leopard" situation, I grant you. But, somewhere in that mass of text is the email address you need to contact if you want copies of the code.

BMW GPL Email Address-

So, I've dropped BMW an email and will update you if/when I hear back. They may not respond - in which case we can heap opprobrium upon them - but let's give them a chance rather than flailing about and calling every scratch a palpable hit, eh?

Update! I've received a response from BMW.

I've sent them my details and will report back on what they send me.

]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2016/03/bmw-and-the-gpl/feed/ 8 <![CDATA[Making DynamicWP's Simple White Theme XHTML Compliant]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2010/07/making-dynamic-wps-simple-white-theme-xhtml-compliant/ https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2010/07/making-dynamic-wps-simple-white-theme-xhtml-compliant/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 10:49:14 +0000 http://shkspr.mobi/blog/?p=2217 This blog is proud to be XHTML 1.0 Strict Compliant.  Just like it is polite to use correct spelling and grammar for human readers, I believe that correct markup is "polite" for rendering engines.

I've recently started using DynamicWP's Simple White Theme.  The theme is excellent, but generated around 60 validation errors.  Luckily these were caused by a scant half dozen errors in the source code. Screenshots of the theme

Here is a quick summary of the errors, why they need to be fixed, and how to fix them.

footer.php - line 8

Why: Target isn't a valid XHTML attribute

From:

<p>Powered by <a href="http://www.wordpress.org/" target="_blank"WordPress</a> | SimpleWhite by <a href="http://www.dynamicwp.net/">Dynamicwp</a></p>

To:

<p>Powered by <a href="http://www.wordpress.org/" >WordPress</a> | SimpleWhite by <a href="http://www.dynamicwp.net/">Dynamicwp</a></p>

index.php - line 63

Why: The & symbol should be escaped to &amp; when used in URLs. The element needs to be closed. The alt attribute needs to be included.

From:

<img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/timthumb.php?src=<?php echo catch_that_image(); ?>&w=275&h=120&zc=1">

To:

<img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/timthumb.php?src=<?php echo catch_that_image(); ?>&amp;w=275&amp;h=120&amp;zc=1" alt="" />

line 69

Why: The element needs to be closed

From:

<hr>

To:

<hr />

sidebar.php - line 24

Why: The element needs to be closed

From:

<img src="<?php echo catch_that_image(); ?>">

To:

<img src="<?php echo catch_that_image(); ?>" />

line 26

Why: The & symbol should be escaped to &amp; when used in URLs. The element needs to be closed. The alt attribute needs to be included.

From:

<img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/timthumb.php?src=<?php echo catch_that_image(); ?>&w=40&h=40&zc=1">

To:

<img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/timthumb.php?src=<?php echo catch_that_image(); ?>&amp;w=40&amp;h=40&amp;zc=1" alt="" />

line 29

Why: The alt attribute needs to be included.

From:

<img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/images/noimagesmall.jpg" />

To:

<img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory'); ?>/images/noimagesmall.jpg" alt="" />

line 42

Why: Error.  The <ul> should be </ul> to close the list.

From:

<ul>

To:

</ul>
]]> https://shkspr.mobi/blog/2010/07/making-dynamic-wps-simple-white-theme-xhtml-compliant/feed/ 2