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Posts tagged ‘gpl’

Update: LG addresses bugs in kernel source for Optimus V

Sweet victory! LG took quick action and wrote me yesterday to tell me they’d released an updated version of the source code for the Optimus V that fixes the bugs I identified over the weekend.

So, all is well in this small corner of the open-source world. I’ve downloaded the new source code (labeled “LGVM670(Thunder) Android Froyo/kernel bugs were fixed” on LG’s download site), and verified that the fixes were made and that the new code builds cleanly.

In case you’re interested in the differences between the Optimus S and Optimus V (LS670 and VM670, respectively), here’s a diff of the kernel sources that I’ve made.

Filed under: Code.  Tagged: , , , , .

Bugs in LG kernel source code for Optimus V

I’ve discovered some bugs in the Linux kernel source code released by LG for the Virgin Mobile Optimus V, or VM670, a close CDMA twin to my Sprint Optimus S. It seems clear from the differences between the S and V source releases that LG has attempted to scrub code comments from the V source, but in the process they’ve created at least two syntax errors that break the code and cause it not to build.

They’ve also left out 15 files that are part of the Linux kernel’s netfilter and needed to build the kernel as configured by LG.

Update: LG has fixed the bugs, so keep reading only if you’re interested in the details.

I’ll detail the problems and explain how to (possibly) fix them below. However, the real issue is that the LG archive is broken as-is, so there’s no way it was used to build the actual Optimus V kernel. While I’m no GPL expert, it seems to me that LG is obligated to provide actual, working source code upon request, not an incomplete, broken fork. Let’s hope this was just an oversight, and one that LG will rectify. more …

Filed under: Code.  Tagged: , , , , .