"redistributions in binary form"

prof7bit — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 11:55:20 GMT

I have noticed that the header files for the peripheral addresses and registers, for example in my case this would be the MKL26Z4.h in the devices/MKL26Z4/ folder (which is the only file from the SDK I really need) contains the following copyright nbotice:

**     Copyright (c) 1997 - 2016 Freescale Semiconductor, Inc.
**     All rights reserved.
**
**     Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification,
**     are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
**
**     o Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list
**       of conditions and the following disclaimer.
**
**     o Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this
**       list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or
**       other materials provided with the distribution.
**
**     o Neither the name of Freescale Semiconductor, Inc. nor the names of its
**       contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this
**       software without specific prior written permission.
**
**     THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND
**     ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
**     WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE
**     DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR
**     ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES
**     (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
**     LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON
**     ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
**     (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS
**     SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

If I produce a commercial product that contains a Kinetis micro controller with firmware written and built by me using the register defines from the Freescale CMSIS header file, does this constitute a "redistribution in binary form" and I am required to enclose it with a piece of paper citing the entire paragraph cited above?

Or can it be argued that a header file like this will not produce any code in the resulting binary at all because it merely consists of declarations?

Re: "redistributions in binary form"

xiangjun_rong — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 05:45:17 GMT

Hi, Bernd

If you do not use the binary library and the source code, you just use the header file which just defines the register address, this does not constitute a "redistribution in binary form" and you are not required to enclose it with a piece of paper citing the entire paragraph cited above.

Hope it can help you

XiangJun Rong

topic Re: "redistributions in binary form" in Kinetis Software Development Kit

"redistributions in binary form"

Re: "redistributions in binary form"