[maemo-developers] Corporate ownership of open source projects [LWN]

[From: Simon Pickering]

> > A possible interim solution is to use one like nVidia has used for years
> > for their closed video card drivers.  Provide a binary object that
> > implements all the core functionality of the chip, with a public API. 
> > Then have an open source kernel module wrapper that calls the funcions
in
> > the public API of the binary module.  Then the open source part can be
> > compiled for any kernel version and simply link in the closed object.  
> > Not an ideal model, but one that solves the problem of legacy hardware 
> > that vendors will not allow releasing info on.
> 
> Indeed; I also think it would not be a big deal to setup daily/nightly
> builds of this module, once the source trees have been identified - I
> don't expect them to be too many.
> 
> That's something much more practical and easier to achieve 
> than "release
> all the code, including what is not under your direct control".
> 
> If the solution to ease the pain of development is one script away, i
> guess it shouldn't be too hard to implement and too unreasonable to
> demand that Nokia provides it as proof of goodwill.

While we're talking about graphics drivers, I wonder if we could have more
information about certain decisions, the PowerVR for one. It would be nice
to know why we don't have a driver. Could this slot into a similar "release
a binary blob" sort of scheme, or is there some other limiting factor?

There is certainly frustration in the community that parts of the system are
not open source, both for specific developmental reasons and non-specific
evangelical reasons. From my own point of view, the main frustration is that
we lack information about what's going on behind the scenes - whether
certain aspects are work-in-progress, too low a priority so will never get
done, impossible due to hw limitations, etc. (e.g. would WiFi binary blob be
considered - we know the unofficial answer to this now, PowerVR driver, SBC
encoder task). 

I don't expect Nokia to give me everything they have, but I would like to
know if it's worth working on certain things (e.g. if there are hardware
issues or Nokia is already doing work on them). This might create some
expectation problems, but I'm not sure that would be worse than our
frustration at not knowing anything at all.

Cheers,


Simon