Sharing and copyright
Short version: a recipe is a list of changes, not a copy of anybody's program. That single fact answers most of the questions people have about sharing one.
Important
This page explains how the file works. It is not legal advice, and rules differ between countries. The project's own position is the disclaimer.
What a recipe contains
| Contains | Does not contain |
|---|---|
addresses (numbers like 0x225A13) |
the manufacturer's program |
| a few bytes before and after each change | the full firmware file |
| the values that changed | any copyrighted source code |
| a fingerprint of the two files it was made from | the files themselves |
You can see the mechanism: an instruction says "the bytes around here are these,
and this one became that". It is a diff — the same kind of thing git shows you
when a line of code changes. A diff is not a copy of the file, and it is useless
without the file.
Why a recipe alone is harmless
Try to do something with a recipe without the matching file: nothing works.
- the tool needs the stock file to apply it to;
- the recipe's own addresses only mean something inside a file of that exact size and layout;
- the anchors must be found — otherwise it refuses.
So a recipe is not a way to distribute firmware. It is a way to describe an edit.
What you can hand over
| You want to… | Fine? | Note |
|---|---|---|
| keep your own recipes as a backup | yes | they are your notes about your own car |
| share a recipe for your own tune | usually yes | it describes an edit you paid for or made |
| share a recipe a tuner made for you | ask them | tuning shops treat their calibrations as their work product; a recipe shows exactly what they did |
| publish a recipe for a known commercial stage tune | ask the shop | same reason — respect their business |
| share your dump / firmware file | be careful | that is a copy of manufacturer software, and that is a different question from sharing a diff |
| share a patched file | be careful | same as above, plus it is a modified copy |
Note the pattern: the recipe explains; the firmware file copies. OpenRemap is built around the first one.
Where OpenRemap's own licence sits
- The tool is MIT licensed. You can use it, change it and ship it, including commercially, as long as the copyright notice travels with it. See License.
- Your files stay yours. The tool does not claim anything over your dumps, your recipes or your patched files, and it uploads nothing.
- Contributions are different. When you contribute support for a new ECU family, what gets committed is a small synthetic file carrying only the marker — never your dump. See Contribute.
The one thing to remember
A recipe is a description of an edit, written in text, that only works on the file it belongs to. That is why it can be read, reviewed, archived and shared — and why it is not a copy of anyone's software.