Distributing HPNA driver binary?

For an upcoming feature in RioPlay, we would like to be able to write to a file that is on a ramdrive for semi-permanent storage (i.e. remains across resets of the player software, but obviously not persistent across box resets). To do this we need to recompile the kernel with the ramdrive option turned on. However, the Rio supplied HPNA driver obviously won't work with a different kernel. So, can anyone tell me if it's acceptable to re-link the HPNA driver and distribute it as part of my own receiver.arf file? It is included in the kernel source package provided on the Rio CD, but I don't know if that means it can be distributed or not. Thanks!

Dave,

I looked at all the readme files in the orginal Rioplay source archive. It is available for download off the rio ftp site. The HPNA readme contains the following text:

This directory contains the binary modules for the iline Home PNA driver. If you upgrade your kernel you will need to relocate them using the program contained in line-modreloc.tar.gz before loading them into flash or
placing them in the .arf file.

Since it is freely available from rio's ftp site wouldn't it be safe to assume you can distribute it?

I hope you can distribute Rioplay with the HPNA. I am an avid Rioplay user on an HPNA network. I would hate to fall behind in releases.

Thanks for all you work on Rioplay. It fits my need perfectly.

Since it is freely available from rio's ftp site wouldn't it be safe to assume you can distribute it?

That is never a safe assumption for any piece of software. Many license agreements specifically prohibit redistribution, even if the file was originally freely available from a public source.

That is never a safe assumption for any piece of software. Many license agreements specifically prohibit redistribution, even if the file was originally freely available from a public source.

And of course a prime example of this is the original receiver.arf which is part of the server software distributed on that same FTP site. We already know that the empeg folks don't want us redistributing their original player, which is why I asked about this in the first place. However, I believe I will include the HPNA driver in my next release for these reasons:

• Lack of response here saying "Please don't do that!"
• il-binary.o is already being distributed as part of the displayserver kernel
• The driver is included as part of the receiver-v103-source.zip which contains all the freely redistributable parts of the Rio code
  

Since it is freely available from rio's ftp site wouldn't it be safe to assume you can distribute it?

This ought to be true, but for some reason isn't. Besides, the Home PNA driver wasn't written by Sonic Blue, let alone by Empeg, and we don't get to vote on its licensing conditions. If the worst comes to the worst, you could always distribute a script that FTPs the whole shebang from Rio's servers, hoiks the driver binary out, and installs it wherever your software needs it.

Peter

is "hoiks" a word?

is "hoiks" a word?

It's a fair cop. I've just checked and it's actually "hoicks". I never knew that.

Peter

Well, I've never hear "hoicks", either, so that's why I was asking. I wasn't meaning to be the spelling police, I was being the "what the hell is that" police.