An email to Acer

[Guest chingy1788]

So Acer released a dodgy kernel source...

It doesn't compile properly and is unstable

Lets all pitch in to form one email to send to Acer requesting a proper, working kernel source release

Lets gather all the information we can on what must be released

Gather all the licenses that apply to the Acer Liquid's kernel source, find segments of the licenses that are relavent and point them out

After we have a nice final version of the email

We shall gather all those on these forums to email Acer Support with that email

So who wants to start off?

[Guest maxisma]

Nice,

I'll read through the GPLv2 today and look for important passages.

[Guest mirox3m]

Any news?

If all users on this forum send from all their email accounts one and the same email, with the same subject, with a copy to some tech blogs, we could achieve some result.

[Guest rj7855]

Nice,

I'll read through the GPLv2 today and look for important passages.

The important passage of GPLv2

The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. For an executable work, complete source code means all the source code for all modules it contains, plus any associated interface definition files, plus the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the executable.

Quotes from gpl-violations.org

What are "scripts used to control compilation"?

Generally, any sophisticated program is split into many different source code files. During the process of compilation, each of them are compiled into executable code, after which they are linked. This process of compiling and linking individual source code files is generally controlled by scripts. Most often the "make" program is used, whose scripts are generally referred to as "Makefiles".

Also, some programs such as the Linux kernel tend to have compile-time configuration (in case of the Linux kernel the .config file). Since this compile-time configuration undoubtedly controls the process of compilation, you need to include any such compile-time configuration files, too.

What version of the source code do I have to release?

For each and every version of the executable program, you have to release the precisely corresponding version of the complete corresponding source code.

So if you have distributed ten different versions of firmware for an embedded product, and this firmware contains GPL licensed software, then you need to release ten different source code packages, each one corresponding for each executable version.

[Guest DiluTe]

Has anyone typed an e-mail yet? I'm curious how Acer will react to it ;)

According to rj7855's post, Acer has to publish each source they released...

[Guest greves]

I live in Taiwan, just a few minutes by metro from Acer head office... I can even translate into Chinese and go drop off a letter in person if someone writes up the necessary information.

FYI, everyone here is extremely busy this week, and next week starts Chinese New Year holiday which means it's unlikely you'll see anything from Acer until the week of Feb 22 unless it's already on this week's schedule.

Edited February 9, 2010 by greves

[Guest JackTheMan18]

I live in Taiwan, just a few minutes by metro from Acer head office... I can even translate into Chinese and go drop off a letter in person if someone writes up the necessary information.

FYI, everyone here is extremely busy this week, and next week starts Chinese New Year holiday which means it's unlikely you'll see anything from Acer until the week of Feb 22 unless it's already on this week's schedule.

I think that it is important to note in the letter that there will be benefits to Acer for releasing a robust kernel.

Some of those benefits include:

1. a well developed end user group encourages more sales due to an "informal" network of tech support

2. a robust, fully documented, released kernel encourages private development which may lead to good technical leads for development

3. the release encourages current users to speak well of the product and the company - good customer relations mean more sales

4. more technical interest creates "marketing buzz" which spurs on sales, and allows to company to compete with others (e.g. HTC).