build: T6231: remove Mellanox OFED drivers and tools until their license status is confirmed #808
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Change Summary
Remove the out-of-tree Mellanox drivers and tools for the time being.
Types of changes
Related Task(s)
Component(s) name
Image build deps.
Proposed changes
PR #777 could not be merged because the package is under a license that doesn't allow redistribution unconditionally. However, the situation gets even trickier.
Individual packages we build from https://network.nvidia.com/products/infiniband-drivers/linux/mlnx_ofed/ are licensed under GPL (for the kernel modules) or dual GPL/BSD for mlnx-tools. That seemed fine to us when we decided to include them
However, the EULA of the entire package includes the following terms (emphasis is mine):
This implies that the only unquestionably legal case for distributing that software is an OS preinstalled on a box that includes Mellanox cards. Distributing it in an OS that may run on any box or a VM that has no Mellanox hardware in it is prohibited by 2.ii and taking only components under FOSS licenses to avoid the implications of 2.ii is prohibited by 3.2 ("The Software Product is licensed as a single product.").
We will request clarification from NVIDIA to check if the EULA really overrides the GPL as it implies, but until we have a confirmation that we are in the clear, we should follow the literal interpretation and comply with it.
How to test
In-tree drivers should still work, the kernel config seems to include all that is needed (but correct me if not).
Checklist: