New -amd Maintainer (was Re: [Info-linux] Announcement)\

[Daniel Stone]

On Sat, Sep 01, 2007 at 06:41:19PM +0300, Martin-Éric Racine wrote:
> On 9/1/07, Jordan Crouse <jordan.crouse at amd.com> wrote:
> > Both drivers have the same code. The only argument here is about the
> > naming;  -nsc is patently incorrect for GX and LX (and technically,
> > -amd is incorrect for SCx200 / GX1).
> 
> I believe that there are also copyright issues involved.  Even though
> AMD bought the IP related to the NSC Geodes, both Geode generations
> purposely kept a separate name for historical reasons.

This is not even related to copyright, but trademark.

> Besides, by keeping the -amd and -nsc branches unaltered, we preserve
> the distinction between community contributions and manufacturer code.

Er, why is this a useful distinction to make?

> It also makes it easier for distributions to offer any or all three
> drivers as they see fit.

This is what has been happening for Via for years, and is an unmitigated
disaster.

> The main question is to get written permission from AMD to use the
> -geode name, since they own the copyright.

Again, trademark, and it's irrelevant.  If you want to sell Geode cards
then you have an issue, but you're not.

Cheers,
Daniel
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