Re: freed_symbols [Re: People, not GPL [was: Re: Driver Model]]

[David Lang]

Correct, this is why most device drivers ARE derived from the kernel and
must be GPL'd.

however it is possible to write a device driver independantly and then
interface it with the kernel without making it a derived work.

David Lang

On Mon, 6 Oct 2003, Pascal Schmidt wrote:

> Date: Mon, 6 Oct 2003 20:56:25 +0200
> From: Pascal Schmidt <der.eremit@xxxxxxxx>
> To: Larry McVoy <lm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Cc: linux-kernel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: freed_symbols [Re: People, not GPL [was: Re: Driver Model]]
>
> On Mon, 06 Oct 2003 20:50:12 +0200, you wrote in linux.kernel:
>
> > That has no bearing on the legalities.  A version of the kernel can't
> > force the GPL on a driver that works with that version of the kernel
> > because you can pull that driver out and drop in another.
>
> Okay, I can see the boundary. We still have the problem that drivers
> writers have to be very careful to not copy kernel code by accident
> because the kernel changes often, which creates a temptation to look
> closely at in-tree drivers to see how they do things. And if a
> drivers writer then produces code that is essentialy the same as is
> found in the kernel, only with changed indentation and variable names,
> I think we both a agree that such a driver would be a derived work.
>
> Another problem is the fact that Linux kernel headers can contain code
> in the form of macros. If a driver uses such a header, it links kernel
> code with itself which can easily make it a derived work.
>
> --
> Ciao,
> Pascal
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