nios2 toolchain sources...

Hi Rick,

Comment 1: Bollocks. Hogwash.

Comment 2: I'm not employed by Altera.

Elaboration:

The GPL states that the author of a GPL derivative is allowed to charge a nominal fee for redistribution of the source. Publishing the code on a web or ftp site would be convenient, but is not a requirement.

In order to comply with the GPL, Altera _must_ be willing to send you a copy of the source code for a nominal shipping and handling fee or they'd be violating the GPL - and they are willing. They just happen not to ship the source code with the eval edition. If you want a copy of the source code, I can send it to you and Altera won't object.

Not including it with the eval edition is therefore not against the GPL. I guess they made a tradeoff: how many moans do you get from blowing up the downloadable version by ~50MB by providing source code that just about nobody is going to use, and how many moans do you get from users in Finland for not providing the source code and claiming you're violating the GPL.

Just my $.02

Ben

"If you distribute binaries by download, you must provide "equivalent access" to download the source--therefore, the fee to download source may not be greater than the fee to download the binary."

Cheers, Jon

Pretty outdated...and ftp directory is empty since few weeks.

rick

If Altera doesn't mind I setup something like nios.uclinux.net or altera.uclinux.net and upload the re-arranged sources...

Just have to include/test elf2flt first since this isn't available as source from Microtronix either (o;

rick

Altera CAN NOT say anything.

The stuff is GPL so its ok to make it available in public as long as you comply to GPL no matter what way you obtained the sources

Antti

Hi Antti,

True, but it would sure be nice if they would be releasing this stuff proactively.

My guess is that the development team is quite willing to help out, but is suffering from a condition known as Red-Tape-itis(TM) (which gets a whole new meaning after seeing War of the Worlds).

Anyway, with Altera closed until tomorrow, I doubt anything will happen this week...

Best regards,

Ben

Uploaded here:

...including nios2 elf2flt patched sources...not tried yet since I have to finish move the IDE messed up uclinux kernel to Linux first (o;

rick

"You may not copy, modify, sublicense, or distribute the Program except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to copy, modify, sublicense or distribute the Program is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License."

It's very much in Altera's interest to adhere to the license!

Cheers, Jon