Re: [edk2-devel] [PATCH] Emulator/X86EmulatorDxe: Replace with MultiArchUefiPkg build

["Pedro Falcato" <pedro.falcato@gmail.com>]

On Wed, Oct 23, 2024 at 3:20 AM Rebecca Cran <rebecca@bsdio.com> wrote:
>
> On 10/22/24 5:44 PM, Pedro Falcato wrote:
>
> > You can build whatever GPL-violating contraption as long as you don't
> > distribute it. If you do, you need to comply with the terms of the
> > license.
> > FWIW, GNU seems to think merely including this module would be a GPL
> > violation (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#MereAggregation,
> > see the mention of running together in a shared address space), and
> > thus all your firmware would potentially need to be distributed under
> > the GPL's terms.
> >
> > Ard's old version seems to only be LGPL and thus you'd only need to
> > comply with the LGPL's terms for that specific module (there's no
> > "virality").
>
>
> If loading into the same address space is the issue, wouldn't GRUB being
> loaded infect the firmware too?

I suspect the issue is that it's very hard to consider GRUB and the
firmware a "single program", particularly if you don't distribute GRUB
with the firmware.

>
> My point was that UEFI firmware could be considered a filesystem, with
> the EmulatorDxe.efi simply being on the same filesystem as the other
> drivers. That's opposed to being linked into the same binary, which is
> clearly a GPL violation.

To me (definitely not a lawyer), what we do in EFI with protocols is
very, very similar with dynamic linking (what's dynamic linking if not
calling into a table of well-defined function pointers (elf PLT)?).
For me the case is strengthened even more if you consider that all of
these modules and protocols are not only in bed with each other, but
also in the same frequently-not-replaceable firmware volume, and
together form "the firmware".

Even worse:

>MultiArchUefiPkg won't work with just any UEFI implementations, but only with implementations that provide the EDKII_PECOFF_IMAGE_EMULATOR_PROTOCOL interface, which is the magic that enables loading foreign ISA binaries

so it uses private EDK2 interfaces (not just standard EFI protocols),
thus sounds kind of intimately linked with EDK2...

But this is ofc my two cents... The GPL is murky and has plenty of
grey areas in these situations.

-- 
Pedro


-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group.
View/Reply Online (#120662): https://edk2.groups.io/g/devel/message/120662
Mute This Topic: https://groups.io/mt/108202804/7686176
Group Owner: devel+owner@edk2.groups.io
Unsubscribe: https://edk2.groups.io/g/devel/unsub [rebecca@openfw.io]
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-