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Firmware provenance

Wifit3 is licensed GPL-2.0-only, but the 24 firmware blobs it ships under src/wifit3/chips/<chip>/assets/ (*.bin, plus the ath9k *.fw) are not GPL. Each is a vendor binary that the silicon needs loaded at bring-up, redistributed here verbatim under its own manufacturer's license, exactly as Linux's linux-firmware repository ships them, and documented the same way that repo's WHENCE manifest does. None of these blobs are a derivative of the GPLv2 driver code we ported; they pass through untouched.

Every blob was byte-verified against its upstream before shipping: either against the canonical linux-firmware copy (SHA-256 / byte-diff), or against the vendor DKMS source's embedded C array, and in most cases re-derived from the chip's own cold-boot pcap and diffed against that copy. The per-chip ground-truth docs (chips/<chip>/<CHIP>.md) carry the verification detail, frame ranges, and hashes; this file is the licensing summary.

The blobs

Blob Chip(s) Upstream source Redistribution license Byte-verified?
rtw8821a_fw.bin RTL8821AU (mainline) linux-firmware rtw88/rtw8821a_fw.bin Realtek redistributable (LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt) ✅ pcap body == wire == linux-firmware
rtw8822b_fw.bin RTL8822BU (mainline) linux-firmware rtw88/rtw8822b_fw.bin Realtek redistributable (LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt) ✅ vs rtw8822b_fw.bin[FW_HDR_SIZE:]
rtw8812a_fw.bin RTL8812AU (mainline) linux-firmware rtw88/rtw8812a_fw.bin Realtek redistributable (LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt) ✅ SHA-256 + pcap body diff
rtw8814a_fw-linux_firmware.bin RTL8814AU (rtw88 mainline) linux-firmware rtw88/rtw8814a_fw.bin Realtek redistributable (LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt) ✅ pcap-reassembled == rtw8814a_fw.bin[64:]
rtl8188eufw.bin RTL8188EUS (mainline) linux-firmware rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw.bin Realtek redistributable (LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt) ✅ SHA-256 match (pcap-extracted)
rtl8812au_fw.bin RTL8812AU (vendor DKMS) morrownr 8812au DKMS hal/rtl8812a (array_mp_8812a_fw_nic) Realtek redistributable (same Realtek FW terms) ✅ golden-hash vs vendor C array (27030 B)
rtl8814au_fw.bin RTL8814AU (vendor DKMS) morrownr 8814au DKMS hal8814a_fw.c (array_mp_8814a_fw_nic) Realtek redistributable (same Realtek FW terms) ✅ vendor C array == pcap bulk payload (68320 B)
rtl8821au_fw.bin RTL8821AU (vendor DKMS) Lucid-Duck PR #194 morrownr/8821au-20210708 DKMS hal/rtl8821a (vendor FW array) Realtek redistributable (same Realtek FW terms) ✅ FW page-write byte-exact in verify_pcap (30880 B)
rtl8822bu_fw.bin RTL8822BU (vendor DKMS) morrownr 88x2bu DKMS (array_mp_8822b_fw_nic v30.20) Realtek redistributable (same Realtek FW terms) ✅ download byte-exact in verify_pcap (161240 B)
rtl8822c_fw_nic.bin RTL8822CU (vendor DKMS) rtl88x2cu GPL hal/rtl8822c/hal8822c_fw.c (array_mp_8822c_fw_nic v9.17) Realtek redistributable (same Realtek FW terms) ✅ HALMAC container parse (v9.17, 200624 B)
rtl8188eufw.bin (dkms) RTL8188EUS (vendor DKMS) aircrack-ng/kimocoder 8188eus DKMS (array_mp_8188e_t_fw_nic) Realtek redistributable (LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt) ✅ SHA-256 == linux-firmware copy
WIFI_MT7961_patch_mcu_1_2_hdr.bin MT7921AU linux-firmware mediatek/WIFI_MT7961_patch_mcu_1_2_hdr.bin MediaTek redistributable (LICENCE.mediatek) ✅ SHA-256 vs linux-firmware
WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7961_1.bin MT7921AU linux-firmware mediatek/WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7961_1.bin MediaTek redistributable (LICENCE.mediatek) ✅ SHA-256 vs linux-firmware
WIFI_MT7925_PATCH_MCU_1_1_hdr.bin MT7925AU linux-firmware mediatek/mt7925/WIFI_MT7925_PATCH_MCU_1_1_hdr.bin MediaTek redistributable (LICENCE.mediatek) ✅ FW download byte-exact in verify_pcap (197792 B, sha256 8b68c73d…)
WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7925_1_1.bin MT7925AU linux-firmware mediatek/mt7925/WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7925_1_1.bin MediaTek redistributable (LICENCE.mediatek) ✅ FW download byte-exact in verify_pcap (1246968 B, sha256 f156ca10…)
mt7662_ilm.bin MT7612U (MT76x2U) linux-firmware mediatek/mt7662.bin (ILM region) Ralink/MediaTek redistributable (LICENCE.ralink_a_mediatek_company_firmware) ✅ == mt7662.bin[32:32+ilm_len]
mt7662_dlm.bin MT7612U (MT76x2U) linux-firmware mediatek/mt7662.bin (DLM region) Ralink/MediaTek redistributable (LICENCE.ralink_a_mediatek_company_firmware) ✅ == mt7662.bin DLM region
mt7662_rom_patch_body.bin MT7612U (MT76x2U) linux-firmware mediatek/mt7662_rom_patch.bin (30-B header stripped) Ralink/MediaTek redistributable (LICENCE.ralink_a_mediatek_company_firmware) ✅ == mt7662_rom_patch.bin[30:]
mt7610e_linux-firmware.bin MT7610U (MT76x0U) linux-firmware mediatek/mt7610e.bin MediaTek redistributable (LICENCE.mediatek) ✅ pcap body == mt7610e.bin[32:]
mt7610u_linux-firmware.bin MT7610U (MT76x0U) linux-firmware mediatek/mt7610u.bin MediaTek redistributable (LICENCE.mediatek) ✅ shipped verbatim (kernel fallback variant)
mt7610u_pcap_body.bin MT7610U (MT76x0U) extracted from cold-boot pcap; == mt7610e.bin[32:] MediaTek redistributable (LICENCE.mediatek) ✅ byte-for-byte vs mt7610e.bin[32:]
rt5572.bin RT5572 / RT3572 (RT2800USB) linux-firmware rt2870.bin (USB half, offset 4096) Ralink redistributable (LICENCE.ralink-firmware.txt) ✅ md5 8d98ca9f…, second 4 KB of rt2870.bin
rt3070_fw.bin RT3070 linux-firmware rt2870.bin (first 4 KB, offset 0) Ralink redistributable (LICENCE.ralink-firmware.txt) ✅ md5 d94f0280…, wire multiwrite == rt2870.bin[:4096]
rt5372_fw.bin RT5372 linux-firmware rt2870.bin (USB half, offset 4096) Ralink redistributable (LICENCE.ralink-firmware.txt) ✅ md5 8d98ca9f…, rt2870.bin[4096:]
rt5370_fw.bin RT5370 linux-firmware rt2870.bin (USB half, offset 4096) Ralink redistributable (LICENCE.ralink-firmware.txt) ✅ md5 8d98ca9f…, rt2870.bin[4096:] (byte-identical to rt5372_fw.bin)
htc_9271-1.4.0.fw AR9271 (ath9k_htc, v2) linux-firmware ath9k_htc/htc_9271-1.4.0.fw Atheros redistributable (LICENCE.atheros_firmware) ✅ md5 4ed467d4…, wire FW-download (13 chunks) == blob on all 3 pcaps

Notes:

  • One blob shared, two slices. The Ralink rt3070_fw.bin, rt5370_fw.bin, rt5372_fw.bin, and rt5572.bin are all carved from the single linux-firmware rt2870.bin: RT3070 uses the first 4 KB (PCI half), RT5370/RT5372/RT5572 use the second 4 KB (USB half). In WHENCE, rt3070.bin is a symlink to rt2870.bin, and rt3071.bin is documented as "a copy of bytes 4096-8191 of rt2870.bin."
  • RTL8814AU. Both the mainline (rtw88_8814au) and the vendor-DKMS (rtl8814au_dkms) ports carry an 8814a blob; they are the same 68320-byte Realtek firmware. linux-firmware now ships it as rtw88/rtw8814a_fw.bin; the DKMS copy was verified against the vendor C array (array_mp_8814a_fw_nic).
  • Vendor-DKMS Realtek blobs are embedded as C data arrays inside the GPLv2 DKMS driver source rather than shipped as standalone files. The driver code is GPLv2; the embedded firmware payload is Realtek's redistributable binary and is governed by the same Realtek firmware terms as the mainline copies (LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt). We extract the array to a .bin and ship it unmodified.
  • MT7612U firmware is mt7662.bin, not mt7662u.bin. The mainline mt76x2u USB driver requests MT7662_FIRMWARE / MT7662_ROM_PATCH = mt7662.bin / mt7662_rom_patch.bin (mt76x2/mt76x2.h, usb_mcu.c), the same files the PCIe mt76x2e driver uses. Our three blobs are byte-identical to them (ILM+DLM == mt7662.bin[32:]; rom-patch body == mt7662_rom_patch.bin[30:], the 30-byte mt76x02_patch_header stripped). The similarly named mt7662u.bin (a different, larger build that WHENCE files under mt76x2u / LICENCE.mediatek) is not what mainline loads or what wifit3 ships, called out here so the provenance and the governing license stay correct.

Per-vendor license summary

The blobs group under four vendor licenses, mirroring linux-firmware's WHENCE. The verbatim linux-firmware LICENCE.* file for each blob now ships next to it in that chip's assets/ directory, so the license travels with the binary in the repo, the built wheel, and the PyInstaller bundle. The governing-license wording quoted below is from that same file.

Realtek — LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt

Covers the rtw88/rtw88xx and rtlwifi/rtl8188eufw blobs, and (by the same Realtek terms) the vendor-DKMS Realtek blobs. WHENCE marks every one:

Licence: Redistributable. See LICENCE.rtlwifi_firmware.txt for details.

The license itself (Copyright (c) 2010, Realtek Semiconductor Corporation) permits redistribution and use in binary form, without modification, provided redistributions reproduce the copyright notice and disclaimer; it explicitly forbids reverse engineering, decompilation, or disassembly, and grants a limited patent license for use alone or in combination with an OSI-approved open-source-licensed operating system.

MediaTek — LICENCE.mediatek

Covers the MT7921AU (WIFI_MT7961_*, WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7961_*), MT7925AU (WIFI_MT7925_PATCH_MCU_1_1_hdr, WIFI_RAM_CODE_MT7925_1_1, filed under mediatek/mt7925/), and MT7610U (mt7610e/mt7610u) blobs. (The MT7612U mt7662* blobs are not here: WHENCE files them under the Ralink/MediaTek license below.) WHENCE marks the MediaTek blobs:

Licence: Redistributable. See LICENCE.mediatek for details.

The license reads, in full:

MediaTek Inc. grants permission to use and redistribute aforementioned firmware files for the use with devices containing MediaTek chipsets, but not as part of the Linux kernel or in any other form which would require these files themselves to be covered by the terms of the GNU General Public License or the GNU Lesser General Public License.

(Distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY.) This is the explicit upstream basis for keeping the blobs out of the GPL boundary: they are bundled data, not part of the GPL-2.0-only codebase.

Ralink — LICENCE.ralink-firmware.txt

The RT2800USB-family blobs (rt2870.bin slices: rt3070_fw.bin, rt5370_fw.bin, rt5372_fw.bin, rt5572.bin) fall under the original Ralink firmware license. WHENCE marks rt2870.bin:

Licence: Redistributable. See LICENCE.ralink-firmware.txt for details

The license (Copyright (c) 2007, Ralink Technology Corporation) permits redistribution and use in binary form, without modification provided redistributions reproduce the copyright notice and disclaimer; no reverse engineering, decompilation, or disassembly; with the same limited patent license as the Realtek terms above.

Ralink / MediaTek — LICENCE.ralink_a_mediatek_company_firmware

Covers the MT7612U (MT76x2U) blobs: mt7662_ilm.bin + mt7662_dlm.bin (carved from mt7662.bin) and mt7662_rom_patch_body.bin (from mt7662_rom_patch.bin). The card is USB, but the mainline mt76x2u driver loads the same mt7662.bin / mt7662_rom_patch.bin the PCIe mt76x2e driver does, and WHENCE files those under driver mt76x2e:

Licence: Redistributable. See LICENCE.ralink_a_mediatek_company_firmware for details

The license (Copyright (c) 2013, Ralink, A MediaTek Company) carries terms identical to the 2007 Ralink license above: binary redistribution provided the copyright notice and disclaimer are reproduced, no reverse engineering, and the same limited patent license.

Every new firmware blob added under chips/<chip>/assets/ must be recorded in this file: its provenance and redistribution terms from the linux-firmware WHENCE manifest, and a byte-verification against linux-firmware (or the vendor source it was extracted from). See docs/porting/METHODOLOGY.md → "Housekeeping — every new port" → Licensing.