Linked by Eugenia Loli-Queru on Thu 14th Dec 2006 03:00 UTC, submitted by SEJeff
"It's always an interesting day when you get to write a kernel patch, at the urging of Andrew Morton, that notifies the world that non-GPL Linux kernel modules will not work after January 2008 and write some poetry all in the same message."
More here. Hopefully, many closed-source drivers will be opened during the next year if this patch goes through. Update: Linus responds.
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Member since:
2005-08-22
This is not a zealot fight. Kernel developers believe that non-GPL modules are a violation of the license of their code. This is a very simple way they found to help enforce their license.
This is a zealot fight. Some kernel developers believe non-GPL modules are a violation of the GPL. Others - particularly Linus - believe that you cannot make a blanket statement about that.
What's not in dispute:
Your company designs a new network card. You decide to code a Linux driver for it. You do this by taking the code for an existing driver in the kernel and modifying it to work with your card. In this case, your driver is very clearly a derived work of the kernel and must fall under the GPL.
What is in dispute:
Same network card scenario as above. This time, your company decides to implement a Linux driver by creating a little bridge code to interface between the Linux kernel and your existing Windows codebase. You release the bridge code under the GPL, but release the rest of the driver only in binary form. Some developers - the ones arguing for this change - insist your entire driver codebase is a derived work of the kernel, and therefore must fall under the GPL. Others - including Linus - feel that your Linux driver is a derived work of the Windows driver, therefore, it falls under the same restrictions as your Windows codebase. Under this viewpoint, only the Linux specific glue code is a derived work of the kernel and must be GPLed.