Atheros Driver: License Problems Resolved
The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) has approved dual licensing of the Atheros chipset driver. In an investigation, SFLC identified and resolved possible issues.
The "Ath5k" driver for the Atheros WLAN chipset originally comes from OpenBSD, but to use the code for the Linux kernel the license had to be changed to reflect the GPL. However, this prevented code changes being given back to the original driver. Of course, the OpenBSD project wasn't all that thrilled with the prospect.
SFLC, which offers non-commercial legal advice to free software projects, analysed the code and the licenses used. Legal experts concluded that any changes made can be given back to the OpenBSD project in two out of three branches. One branch is exclusively GPL'd and this makes it extremely difficult to hand the code back to OpenBSD.
The Madwifi project was extremely happy with the results and thanked SFLC for its time and support. The developers hope that any doubt concerning licensing and the code is now resolved.
To achieve more clarity for similar issues in future, SFLC has published guidelines that will help developers to use BSD-licensed code in GPL'd projects in future.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Digital Autonomy
• How the Fediverse Found Parts for Its Platforms
• The Answer Was Already on the Shelf
• Changing the Chip Industry: How Public Investment Has Grown Open Silicon
• United Nations Open Source Portal Goes Live
• EU Open Source Strategy Plays Key Role in Tech Sovereignty Package
• France Says “Au Revoir” to Microsoft
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.
News
-
Fedora 45 Now Available
The latest iteration of Fedora has arrived with Gnome 51 and KDE Plasma 6.8.
-
Linux 7.4 is "Much Healthier" Thanks to AI
At nearly 42 million lines, Linux 7.4 is the largest merge in the kernel’s history.
-
Working Exploit for a Linux Kernel Flaw Made Public
Even before a bug received its CVE identifier or an upstream fix, the local privilege escalation vulnerability exploit found its way into the wild.
-
r/opensource Bans AI-Assisted and AI-Related Projects
The de facto subreddit for all things open source has not only banned AI-related projects but also users who "don't speak English."
-
Bottlenecks Discovered by Meta Engineers Lead to Scalability Improvements
Thanks to a small group of engineers at Meta, the Linux kernel module kernfs has been improved, which has led to some serious gains.
-
PwnEscape Poses VM Vulnerability
A guest-to-host escape flaw in Linux KVM, named PwnEscape, might be yet another means of attacking Linux.
-
Linux Mint 27 Set for a Christmas Release
The developers behind Linux Mint have announced a Christmas release, and it looks like Santa's sack will be brimming with features.
-
Is Linus Torvalds Vibe Coding?
The creator of Linux has added AI into his process for Linux kernel development, and it's more than just for debugging.
-
openKylin 3.0 Released with Expanded AI Integration
The latest release features a pre-installed AI agent to help perform tasks.
-
DigitalOcean Ends Open Source Credits Program
In a change that has surprised many open source developers, DigitalOcean has decided to sunset its Open Source Credits Program.