pvr250-port -> pvr500

[Edwin Groothuis]

On Wed, Feb 22, 2006 at 10:48:45AM -0800, John-Mark Gurney wrote:
> i just want to let you guys know that i have adapted the pvr250 port
> to support my pvr500's. my tuner type is 0x65 ( FQ1216AME MK4 ) which
> seems to behave as a 0x37 ( FQ1216ME MK3 ).
> 
> this was done by including some files from ivtv ( cx25840*, tda* and
> some v4l .h's )
> 
> the changes to the original source ( of the pvr250 port ) are minimal:
> disabling of the saa and msp chips and initializing the cx25840 and
> tda9887 chip.
> 
> the changes to the ivtv sources are minimal as well: i am using a
> compatibility header and module, which even copes with the original
> I2C code of the ivtv modules.
> 
> i have informed John Wehle about my efforts, and he pointed out the
> licensing incompatibilities. i am aware of those.
> 
> however, i am not going to do a cleanroom implementation of the
> ivtv-modules which are needed. i am happy with what i have got now (
> and it was pretty hard as well ).
> 
> i am not a laywer, nor do i have deep understanding of the BSD and GPL license:
> 
> so the pvr250-port is BSD licensed while all v4l(2) and ivtv sources
> are GPL licensed.
> 
> introducing the GPL sources would into the port would infect the port,
> and the port would need to be licensed GPL, right?
> 
> but suppose i created a GPL licensed port which patched the
> pvr250-port, would this be a solution to the incompatibilities?

Since this port isn't available as a package anyway, there is not
much *you* have to worry about.

What we can do is add an OPTION for PVR card type (250, 350, 500),
and then patch it accordingly. Since the patched binaries stay local
(on the end-users machine itself, and not on any of the FreeBSD
project machines), we don't have to worry about the redistribution
part.

Johns problem is more serious because of the license incompatibilities
between his code and the code lent from v4l.

Edwin
-- 
Edwin Groothuis      |            Personal website: http://www.mavetju.org
edwin at mavetju.org    |          Weblog: http://weblog.barnet.com.au/edwin/