Hi,
The License of libmcc is bothering me for a while now (also mentioned it back at my Talk back at BetterEmbedded). Now that people are starting to use libmcc more, I would like to clarify that: According to the LICENCE file, the library is GPLv2+. However, this essentially prevents the library to be used from a closed source application. Is this by intent? I think a LGPL license would be more appropriate. Maybe Timesys Support can help here?
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Stefan
Hi,
Using MCC v2 should solve this problem.
Regards,
Vladimir
Hi Vladimir,
Thanks for that hint. Hm, it seems that MCC v2 for Vybrid is not released for the Linux BSP, is this right? However, we anyway use a different Kernel version than what is provided by the Timesys BSP.
For SoloX, I guess the Kernel part is implemented in the mcc_* files within the Freescale Kernel tree:
linux-2.6-imx.git - Freescale i.MX Linux Tree
Is there a user-space library which implements the MCC API (like libmcc) too? If yes (for Vybrid or for SoloX), can you tell me where I can get that portion?
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Stefan
Just had a bit deeper look into MCC v2, it seems that it uses by default the new Messaging Unit (MU) IP which is available in SoloX. I guess due to that backporting it to Vybrid involves some more work. Since the API is quite similar to V1, just kernel only, I guess an almost feature complete MCC V2 is possible on Vybrid. The only except I see are hardware functionality such as wake-up from deep sleep modes which are provided by the MU IP.
timesyssupport is this still on your roadmap? I've seen it was planned once, discussed in the Thread linux libmcc.
Hi Stefan,
We are currently integrating MCC v2 for Vybrid (based on the MCC v2 for SoloX), and are expecting to have a release available by end of August.
Thanks,
Timesys Support
Hi Timesys Support,
I have seen that with the "3.13-vf610-twr-ts2.6" release there has been something new integrated which suggests to be MCC 2.0. Also, there is a library called libmcc2, which is still under GPL.
Afaik, the MCCv2 implementation for SoloX, only provided a tty Kernel driver, I guess this is why vv- meant that MCCv2 would solve the licensing issue. Looking into the code it seems that MCC 2.0 for Vybrid uses that SoloX tty MCC driver (in drivers/char/imx_amp/imx_mcc_libmcc.c), but in a modified version such that still a user space library (libmcc2) is required... Which is still under GPL and hence makes the whole solution for commercial use somewhat unsuitable.
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Stefan
Hi Stefan,
We are in the process of updating MCC to dual GPLv2/BSD license, and will update in Factory and meta-fsl-arm-extra Yocto layer.
Thanks,
Timesys Support
Dear Stefan,
what Freescale product is it related to, please? - Vybrid?
Regards, Naoum Gitnik.
This is the Vybrid forum isn't it? Since the library is related to the multi-core variant of Vybrid, it mainly affects VF6xx... If MCC is also reused for i.MX6SX, it would be also related to that....
Dear Stefan,
It looks like all these organizational issues around the license of your interest are Freescale's prerogative, not Timesys's. Due to that, have you tried turning to a local Freescale FAE to clarify for you how to get this license?
Sorry for not being really instrumental this time - not a real expert in the license rules...
Regards, Naoum Gitnik.
timesyssupport can you share your comments about this case?
Hello karinavalencia and naoumgitnik,
The license in question contains Freescale headers; while we do maintain the source code, the licensing is Freescale. Can Freescale comment on this, as we have inquired internally at Freescale?
Thank you,
Timesys Support