Re: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers

[Nick Piggin]

Ben Nizette wrote:
> v j wrote:
>
> > This is in reference to the following thread:
> >
> > http://lkml.org/lkml/2006/12/14/63
> >
> > I am not sure if this is ever addressed in LKML, but linux is _very_
> > popular in the embedded space. We (an embedded vendor) chose Linux 3
> > years back because of its lack of royalty model, robustness and
> > availability of infinite number of open-source tools.
>
> [...]
>
> > However we have a worrying trend here. If at some point it becomes
> > illegal to load our modules into the linux kernel, then it is
> > unacceptable to us. We would have been better off choosing VxWorks or
> > OSE 3 years ago when we made an OS choice. The fact that Linux is
> > becoming more and more closed is very very alarming.
> Question to the world here:  Distros make, as a matter of course, a 
> series of modifications to the Linux Kernel so that their modules or 
> features work.  What stops VJ making a patchset which effectively 
> s/EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL/EXPORT_SYMBOL/g 's the kernel source then 
> distributing that under the GPL?  He then supplies his un-GPL'd modules 
> to the world which just happen to only run on the modified kernel.  I've 
> read the GPL of course (IANAL though) and I can't see what this violates 
> except the /spirit/ of the license.  Don't get me wrong, I'm strongly 
> against anyone doing what I just mentioned, I believe it to be immoral 
> taking someone's GPL'd code and mangling it in such a way.  I speak as 
> an embedded developer myself whose company decided that running our code 
> under Linux and distributing our code under the GPL was far preferable 
> to running closed-source software on a closed-source platform.

The best bet would be to read up on lots of past discussions related to
exactly these kinds of questions, then ask your Lawyer.

Rhetorical question: what stops me from taking somebody's copyrighted
work, stripping the copyrights or falsely claiming to have a license
to redistribute it, then selling it?

--
SUSE Labs, Novell Inc.
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