Since I don't use Altera product at this point, what I don't know, is
if there are open source friendly public disclosures by Altera which
open up access to their tools in a friendly way.
There are clearly questions about the Altera license too.
"2. License to the Licensed Program: By this Agreement, ALTERA grants
to you a non-exclusive license to use the Licensed Program (and any
updates thereof for which you have paid a subscription fee) on the
terms and conditions outlined in this Agreement. Any features for which
you have not paid a subscription fee or any other unenabled features of
the Licensed Program (unless ALTERA provides a software protection
enabling key or code for such unenabled features) are unlicensed and
you agree not to use or access such features. Certain licenses to the
Licensed Program are time limited, to the extent designated by ALTERA
and as may be set forth in the feature line license key that is issued,
and will automatically time-out at the end of the designated period.
The source code of the Software, and the algorithms, concepts,
techniques, methods and processes embodied therein, constitute trade
secrets and confidential and proprietary information of ALTERA and its
licensors, and LICENSEE shall not access or use such trade secrets and
information in any manner, except to the extent expressly permitted
herein. ALTERA and its licensors retain all title, copyright, patent
and other proprietary rights therein. LICENSEE agrees not to remove or
obscure any copyright, trademark or patents notices found in or on any
user documentation or the Software."
Which follows the Xilinx strategy of claiming "trade secrets and
confidential and proprietary information of ALTERA". That agreement
continues with:
"Pursuant to this Agreement, you may: (a) use the Licensed Program on a
single computer (or, if you have purchased a floating node license, the
number of concurrent users for which you have obtained licenses from
ALTERA may use the Licensed Program on networked workstations); (b) use
the Licensed Program for the sole purpose of programming logic devices
manufactured by ALTERA and sold by ALTERA or its authorized
distributors, [...] Your end customers may use ALTERA programmable
logic devices that have been programmed with the Licensed Program."
To limit your use exclusively to those activities which program Altera
devices. The "by ALTERA or its authorized distributors" restrictions
are very interesting, as it suggests that if you have purchased a gray
market part, you are not allowed to use these tools to program it.
Later in the same section:
"YOU MAY NOT USE, COPY, MODIFY, DISTRIBUTE OR TRANSFER THE SOFTWARE OR
ANY COPY, OR MERGED OR COMBINED PORTION THEREOF, IN WHOLE OR IN PART,
EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED FOR IN THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU TRANSFER
POSSESSION OF ANY COPY, OR MERGED OR COMBINED PORTION OF THE SOFTWARE,
TO ANOTHER PARTY EXCEPT AS EXPRESSLY PROVIDED HEREIN, YOUR LICENSE IS
AUTOMATICALLY TERMINATED. YOU MAY NOT DECOMPILE, DISASSEMBLE OR
OTHERWISE ATTEMPT TO ACCESS THE SOURCE CODE OF THE SOFTWARE; PROVIDED,
HOWEVER, THAT IF YOU ARE LOCATED IN A MEMBER NATION OF THE EUROPEAN
COMMUNITY OR OTHER JURISDICTION THAT PERMITS LIMITED REVERSE
ENGINEERING, YOU MAY PERFORM LIMITED REVERSE ENGINEERING, BUT ONLY
AFTER GIVING NOTICE TO ALTERA AND ONLY TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY THE
EC SOFTWARE DIRECTIVE OR OTHER APPLICABLE LAW."
Which means that anyone outside the EU can not use the claimed
proprietary rights outside this agreement, and those in the EU must
provide advance notice.
Overall the tone of the Altera agreement is the same EULA NDA with the
typical flair of a corporate legal license - claim everything, yield
little. This is troubling for open source developers. I current have a
couple thousand MAX7K devices that I purchased gray market off eBay,
which presumably were purchased thru supported distribution by the
company that liquidated them at auction when they failed. If I pay the
license fees, and then use that license to program these devices, will
I have to forfeit the license and fees? I have not paid for a license,
partly for that reason. It might be cheaper to dump them on eBay at a
loss.
The Altera language states that you have read and understand the
agreement, which unless you are a lawyer, might be doubtful.
Ok, to be completely fair now that Xilinx clearly doesn't allow open
source tools to generate net lists for the features of current Xilinx
devices (other than old limited EDIF and XNF interfaces), just what
access does open source have to generate usable netlists for Altera
products?
What fpga companies are open to open source tools augmenting their
vendor supplied tools to support their products?