Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 24th Nov 2006 23:05 UTC, submitted by SEJeff
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Member since:
2005-11-10
There seems to be some misinformation regarding how the nVidia graphics driver works. Several people on this thread have mentioned that you can't link GPL code with a binary blob - that is correct; several people have mentioned that nVidia's binary blob is illegal because it is linked to a GPL kernel - that is incorrect. nVidia's driver is divided in two: a GPL kernel module and a binary blob. The binary blob is loaded dynamically by the kernel module.
So...
1. the nVidia GPL kernel module links to the GPL kernel -> legal;
2. the nVidia GPL kernel module loads the binary blob. It does _not_ link to it -> legal.
Like someone already said, you can say that is violates the spirit of GPL, but it certainly does _not_ violate the GPL.
Besides, if you like Ubuntu but dislike the non-free portions of it, you can use gNewSense ( http://www.gnewsense.org ). It's your choice. And that's the beauty of Free Software. :-)
Edited 2006-11-25 01:21