Harald Welte Exposes Netgear Open Source Router Sham
With his GPL-Violations.org initiative, Harald Welte has often interceded on the behalf of GPL licensing. His current bone of contention is NetGear's WNR3500L "open source" router.
Router maker Netgear announced their WNR3500L Wireless-N Gigabit device at the same time as their new MyOpenRouter community. As Harald Welte writes in his blog, the WNR3500L unfortunately has the problem of being "binary-only" kernel mode code and therefore closed source, contrary to its claims of being "open source." Apart from this annoying fact, the binary modules also provide a security risk, notes Welte, because they can't be updated with security fixes.
Welte also sees some questionable legal practices. He feels that the company is trying to avoid copyright claims from writers of parts of the kernel against Netgear's binary-only modules.
Bone of contention: Netgear's "open source" WNR3500L router as part of its MyOpenRouter community offering.
He further argues that Netgear may not fully understand the open source market they're trying to serve and that Netgear should be advised about the community's rules and values. He suggests contacting Netgear product managers "to help them understand the embarrassment and PR impact that they are putting themselves into" with their "open source" claims.
Issue 38: 101 Cool Linux Hacks/Special Editions
Buy this issue as a PDF
News
-
OpenSSH Now Supports FIDO/U2F Security Keys
SSH users can now add FIDO/U2F to the list of supported multi-factor authentication tools.
-
System76 Launches New AMD Threadripper Machine
System76 has added an AMD Threadripper option for their Thelio desktop lineup.
-
LibreOffice 6.4 Released
The unofficial office suite for the Linux platform has performance in mind for users.
-
Official Evernote Client Coming to Linux
The most widely-used note-taking app is coming to Linux.
-
Thanks to Linux, Google and Valve are Bringing Steam to Chromebooks
In yet another win for desktop Linux, Google and Steam are about to up the Chromebook gaming field.
-
Kubuntu Focus Laptop Now Ready for Preorder
If you’ve ever wanted a KDE-specific, Linux-powered laptop, now’s your chance.
-
Dell Adds a Much-Requested Feature to the New XPS Developer Edition Laptop
Linux users are in for a treat when Dell releases the next iteration of the Ubuntu-powered XPS Developer Edition laptop.
-
Bonsai Promises to Make Syncing Gnome Devices Easier
Red Hat developer, Christian Hergert has been working on a GNOME desktop syncing project with lots of promise.
-
Elementary OS 5.1 Has Arrived
One of the most highly regarded Linux desktop distributions has released its next iteration.
-
Linux Mint 19.3 Will be Released by Christmas
The developers behind Linux Mint have announced 19.3 will be released by Christmas 2019.