[coreboot] How to properly conform with GPLv2 for Coreboot and SeaBIOS on an embedded system

[Werner Zeh]

Hi Ian.

First of all I want to clarify some things so that all of us have the
same understanding:

1. On our current coreboot-based products we just use coreboot itself
with no other payload (e.g. SeaBIOS). We use instead a Linux as a
payload which is self-tailored for every dedicated mainboard.
2. The vast majority of our products is sold to OEMs.
3. We provide the OS to the OEM which remains the one and only OS in the
system. The OEMs uses our OS and it's provided interfaces to build his
own applications on top of it.
4. Every mainboard/hardware belongs to a complete system which will in
any case have a way to show informations to the end-customer (it might
be a LCD-panel, a VNC-connection or a dedicated engineering system which
is able to communicate with the devices).

> With a few minutes spent looking, it is not at all clear to me how
Siemens handles their GPL responsibility and whether they attempt to
provide compliance for their customers or not.

The way we decided to deal with the GPL-obligations is:
1. Make sure all our mainboards are on master! We always build the final
image based on the latest master. Of course one version freezes the time
it is released while master keeps going forward. But one can easily get
the git-commit which was the latest once the version has been released
(by looking at the console output for example).
2. Provide a screen (very similar to your About-Screen) on the system
where every one who is interested in can see all the needed informations
(version, licenses, ...). The information is gathered in a text file
which is located in the CBFS on the flash. Therefore this information is
bound to the hardware itself. We do provide a built-in text-viewer so
that one can see all the information when ever there is a need for it.

So if there is someone out there who wants to run its own copy of
coreboot on our hardware: Go to coreboot.org, get the latest tree,
select the matching mainboard and...make! Beside the fact that you will
loose the warranty if you install your own firmware (which was not
verified by Siemens) on our hardware  you are free to go!

Do I oversee something?

Werner

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