Development of Creative Commons licenses

[Jeff Carr <jcarr AT linuxmachines.com>]

I wasn't able to find a public thread on this issue. I'd happily read 
whatever conclusions have already been written. I would also request 
that a statement be made on http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/

Due to the growing number of cores released under the GPL (opencores.org 
for example), it's not entirely clear if those cores can be used in VLSI 
or FPGA designs along with non-free software.

It is not entirely clear if changes to GPL code need to be released when 
 VLSI hardware is manufactured because the actual GPL changes are never 
passed on to third parties. This is due to the strange way in which the 
GPL HDL (Hardware Description Language) "code" describes the way in 
which the hardware works; not the way in which the code is compiled in 
the normal sense of GPL code. This problem seems similar to what caused 
the GNU Documentation License to be written.

FPGA manufacturers provide development enviornments that "compile" HDL 
into a bit stream that can be feed into the chip to control it's 
circuitry. This HDL code can also be used to manufacture chips (VLSI) 
that contain this description of the code. Perhaps a way of thinking 
about this GPL HDL this would be analogous to some gpl code that 
describes a map between cities. This code can be used to generate a map 
with lines between the cities. Then then manufacturer can make copies of 
the maps by etching lines in silicon.

The problems here are compounded because there are not many (or any?) 
free or open source compiliers for these FPGA parts. So, it's not always 
clear if some GPL code would be mixed in with not-gpl code.

Some of the people writing these free cores (the PCI design comes to 
mind) are using the GPL and want it to be used as much as possible. They 
feel, with similar principles to the free software movement, that the 
PCI core will be superior if more and more people use it. Eventually 
better than commercially available cores. I suspect that they would want 
a license that would allow it to be used with commercial cores on the 
same chip, but want the changes that are made to the PCI core released 
under the GPL.

It is important to figure out the legal issues here and, if necessary, 
draft a license that will solve these issues as soon as possible. There 
are many people writing and releasing these cores, and if the GPL is 
found to not adequately protect, or too much restrict the use of the 
cores, then it gets increasingly difficult for projects with many 
developers to change the license as more time passes.

I see a need for two licenses with the principles:
        1) allows use with non-free code on the same chip
        2) doesn't allow use with non-free code on the same chip

Thanks,
Jeff Carr