The boot code from FreeBSD is under the BSD license. The code taken from the Linux PCI subsystem and Linux NIC drivers are under GPL. Some source files have been put under GPL by their authors. Hence the Etherboot distribution is in general under the GPL, but you may use parts of it derived from FreeBSD under FreeBSD rules. Simply speaking, the GPL says that if you distribute a binary derived from Etherboot code (this includes boot ROMs) you have to provide, or promise to provide on demand, the source code. The full conditions of the GPL are specified in the file COPYING.
Here are the copyright details of the source, file by file:
Unless specifically noted, a file is under the GPL. GPLed files are in general either from Linux or have been explicitly put under GPL by the authors. A few files are inherited from FreeBSD netboot and therefore can be used under BSD or GPL. File Copyright status core/misc.c BSD drivers/net/3c509.c BSD drivers/net/3c509.h BSD drivers/net/3c595.c BSD drivers/net/3c595.h BSD drivers/net/3c90x.c Open Source drivers/net/epic100.c None drivers/net/epic100.h None drivers/net/ns8390.c BSD drivers/net/ns8390.h BSD drivers/net/tulip.c BSD arch/i386/include/bits/string.h None util/lzhuf.c Open Source |