Let me summarize some points from this:
1. bcm43xx code was copied. The developer working on bcw accidentally committed code segments over multiple commits that were exact duplicates of bcm43xx code.
2. In taking this action, the developer of bcw relicensed GPL'd bcm43xx code into an ISC license which essentially only requires a dissolution of warranty notice. This is a violation of the GPL, and the developer did not have the right to do this.
That's really all that's important from this thread, but it is massively long. Theo seems to harp on the following points:
1. The bcm43xx developer is a jerk for bringing this up publicly.
2. The bcm43xx developer is calling the bcw developer a thief and shouldn't be.
3. The Linux/GPL community can't be trusted to work with us because they were ass-hats about the Atheros driver.
Firstly, it's hard to call the linux-wireless list public beyond its specific community.
Secondly, by the terms of the GPL, the bcw developer that committed this code is a thief. The GPL community is just generally more forgiving about these sorts of things. In many ways, we are less tolerant of *BSD taking our code because their adherents highly devalue our license because of its restrictions. Also, *BSD becomes a gateway for corporations to take GPL'd code and incorporate it into their products.
In that last sense, it's much worse for a person who prefers the GPL to dual-license than somebody that prefers BSD. BSD is often pushed by people that want you to do "anything" with their code, so why should they care?
On the last point, the only person that's been entirely unreasonable in this is Theo. He really does creatively snip emails and constantly shift the subject. I do agree with people that he spent a lot of time insulting bcm43xx developers in order to obfuscate that the bcw developer actually did something wrong. Theo also spent a lot of time upset that the bcw driver needed to be deleted to solve this problem. Well, that's what happens when you copy code illegally and post it to a "public" place.
In the end, this thread tells me something I've always known: Theo is a selfish asshole that doesn't respect the efforts of other projects and their opinions on anything related to copyrights and licensing. I don't think he necessarily needs to change because that leadership style seems to work for the community that's built around it. In the end though, it's ridiculous to hear him claim that anybody else is getting in the way of cooperation. I would put him at the top of the list.
As an aside, as angry as I am at Theo right now, I think he does have a point about how Linux developers shouldn't accept NDAs to make GPL'd drivers without specs being released. Although, that doesn't justify Theo's team taking GPLd drivers and relicensing them in a way incompatible with the GPL. Yes, Theo, it is possible for you to be partially right and partially wrong. This is something you need to realize.
