• tetris11 2 days ago

    Aren't firmwares for Fritzboxes provided by the Freetz-NG project?

    https://freetz-ng.github.io/freetz-ng/FIRMWARES.html

    • philkrylov 2 days ago

      The link shows a list of firmwares. The actual sources are at https://github.com/Freetz-NG/freetz-ng - but it's not the original FritzBox firmware sources:

      > Freetz is a toolbox for developers and experienced users to build a modified firmware based on the original firmware for the DSL/LAN/WLAN/VoIP-Routers AVM Fritz!Box and T-Com Speedport (identical hardware) and to transfer this firmware to the device. There are many extension packages available, along with options to remove unwanted functionality from the original firmware.

      • hulitu a day ago

        No. Fritzbox is proprietary.

      • jcarrano 2 days ago

        I understand this is just the last instance of a series of (L)GPL violation on the part of AVM. The irony is that with each lost case, AVM strengthens the reputation of the Germany legal system in copyleft cases.

        • solarkraft 6 hours ago

          It’s a bummer that AVM, while being actually very techie-friendly, is a bit weird about its firmware.

          • ksec a day ago

            >"The favorable result of this lawsuit exemplifies the power of copyleft—granting users the freedom to modify, repair, and secure the software on their own devices,"

            I am not entirely sure that is what LGPL is about. Unless the router was specifically sold as Open Source. I thought the whole reason for LGPL is that you could use it with other proprietary code?

            • rincebrain a day ago

              In particular, (L)GPL3 require that you be able to reproduce the binaries that you were given, more or less - the anti-TiVo clauses.

              The article suggests that AVM provided some code but not the build tooling or scripts needed to produce a useful firmware image out of them, or documentation around various opaque variables required for the build, and since they're required to do that, here we are.