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If they require an NDA, they'll probably refuse to provide it for the purpose of Linux drivers? Unless it's just some dumb formality. I can try Linux Foundatio
by shmerl 10mo ago
If they require an NDA, they'll probably refuse to provide it for the purpose of Linux drivers?
Unless it's just some dumb formality. I can try Linux Foundation.
- heavyset_go 10mo agoYeah it depends on their stance, some vendors just want an entity that can be bound by contract and they could theoretically sue if you leak their docs, and the Linux Foundation can serve that role. More info here: https://www.linuxfoundation.org/legal/nda https://www.linuxfoundation.org/legal/nda
- shmerl 10mo agoThanks for the pointer!
- amluto 10mo agoThis is definitely not true. It’s even sometimes possible to negotiate contract and NDA terms with Large Corporations for the specific purpose of producing open source code based on NDA specs. Source: been there, done that.
- shmerl 10mo agoWhy would they need an NDA then if they would be OK with open source implementation? It's good if that's possible, it just doesn't make sense.
- amluto 10mo agoThere are all kinds of reasons. One basic example would be if the vendor has a data sheet but does not have the right to grant anyone redistribution rights to the datasheet or may even be restricted from allowing anyone to read it without an NDA. Another might be that the vendor has a general rule that their engineers don’t talk to outside people without an NDA but has decided, as a business matter, to allow the engineers to talk to a specific developer and that they want an open source driver developed. A third might be that the vendor wants to be able to have detailed conversations about proprietary implementation details of their hardware and decide later which details are going to become public.