gutschk@math.uni-muenster.de
The code, that I wrote for this package, basically consists of a set of patches against existing code written by other authors. As part of the existing code is covered by a BSD-style license whereas the other part is covered by the GNU General Public License, mixing these packages would cause conflicts between the two licenses. Fortunately, you can clearly separate the two packages (all of the original code for the BOOT-prom is covered by the BSD-style license, all of the original code for creating the required Linux kernel images is covered by GPL).
As I did not intend to complicate things even more, I decided to release my patches (note! this only applies my patches! it does not mean, that either the copyright conditions for the original packages or for the patched files are changed!) into the PUBLIC DOMAIN. This means, I do not accept any responsibility for what my code does; the patches are provided `as is' without warranty of any kind, either expressed of implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. The entire risk as to the quality and performance of the program is with you. Should the program prove defective, you assume the cost of all necessary servicing, repair or correction. On the other hand, I do not claim any rights to this software other than the right that I am acknowledged as the author of the patches.
For information on the copyright conditions of the individual packages/files please refer to the separate subdirectories. The directory `src*' contains part of a FreeBSD source tree (you can obtain the full source tree from a large selection of different FTP servers), the directory `netboot-0.4' contains part of a package that uses a different approach to disk-less loading of Linux kernels (you can obtain the full package from sunsite in pub/linux/system/Linux-boot/netboot-0.4.tar.gz). The directory `bin' contains pre-compiled binaries; these binaries are derived from the code in the `src*' directory and therefore share its copying conditions. The directory 'patches' contains two patches `netboot*' against the FreeBSD code (these two files are the only code written by me; I hereby place them in the PUBLIC DOMAIN) and one patch that is derived from the file `netboot-linux/lx-1.3.15.patch` and therefore shares the GNU General Public License with that file. Most of these patches are probably outdated by now.
If you do not clearly understand the terms of this license or if you want to report bugs, please contact me. (You could also send me a postcard from your hometown, if you really like my code.) At the time of writing my address is:
Markus Gutschke Schlage 5a D-48268 Greven-Gimbte Germany Internet: gutschk@math.uni-muenster.de
Current releases of "etherboot" are co-authored by Ken Yap <ken.yap@acm.org> and me; so please send e-mail to both of our addresses.