Re: The power of the GPL

[Tim Smith]

On 2004-08-11, Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:
> One recent development which I think shows the power of the GPL over BSD
> and X11 style licenses is the various (somewhat GNU/)Linux-based cable/dsl
> routers.  Without the GPL, such boxes would stay "closed", but thanks to
> the GPL, Linksys, ASUS, etc... have had to distribute the source along
> with the firmware, thus opening up the door for custom made firmwares (see
> http://wl500g.dyndns.org or google for OpenWRT) with extra features.

So what happens if a box maker makes it so the first stage boot loader in
ROM only loads firmware that is signed by the maker's private key?  That
would let them use GPL'ed software without opening up the possibility of
custom firmware.

-- 
--Tim Smith