[$] GPLv2 and installation requirements

On December 24 2025, Linus Torvalds posted a stronglyworded message celebrating a ruling inthe ongoing GPL-compliance lawsuit filedagainst VIZIO by the Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC). This case andTorvalds's response have put a spotlight on an old debate over the extentto which the source-code requirements of the GNUGeneral Public License (version2) extend to keys and other dataneeded to successfully install modified software on a device. It is worthlooking at whether this requirement exists, the subtleties ininterpretation that cloud the issue, and the extent to which, if any, theSFC is demanding that information.