BT says 'enough' on GPL

BT says it has done enough to make its wireless Hub comply with the General Public License despite criticism from gpl-violations.org that it is still in breach of the license.

A statement from BT said: "The BT Home Hub is developed by Thomson on the basis of a Linux kernel (version 2.6.8.1) which is released under the General Public License v.2 in connection with proprietary binary kernel module and proprietary user space application.

"The binary module is based on proprietary software of Thomson (or of its licensors) and is subject to proprietary license terms. Thomson's use of the Linux kernel and kernel modules is in conformity with the terms of the GPL and complies with any of its obligations as a user and distributor of GPL code."

BT has published much of the relevant code here and clearly believes it has done more than enough to comply with the GPL.

But the Free Software Foundation Europe remains unimpressed.

They told us: "Armijn Hemel of gpl-violations.org analysed the source code and said that some of the necessary code is missing. For example, a top level Makefile and the scripts that would be used to properly generate a firmware image have not been included. A script or file with the uClibc configuration is also mandatory.

"The GNU GPL is not negotiable and is thus not subject to any third party's 'best and final offer.' Failure to comply with the terms of the licence terminates it."

The statement continued: "Our job is to help maintain a fair and healthy Free Software eco-system and make it as easy as possible for companies like BT to use Free Software for their projects and products in a sustainable way. That is why - after we had first learned about the problems from inquiries by the media - we contacted BT, offering our help and advice to come into compliance with the GNU GPL. We uphold that offer and hope that BT will talk to us or another party knowledgeable in the issue to come into compliance with copyright law." ®