Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S265366AbTF1TLp (ORCPT ); Sat, 28 Jun 2003 15:11:45 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S265359AbTF1TLe (ORCPT ); Sat, 28 Jun 2003 15:11:34 -0400 Received: from pc2-cwma1-4-cust86.swan.cable.ntl.com ([213.105.254.86]:46730 "EHLO lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S265366AbTF1TLM (ORCPT ); Sat, 28 Jun 2003 15:11:12 -0400 Subject: Re: How to Avoid GPL Issue From: Alan Cox To: "G. C." Cc: Linux Kernel Mailing List In-Reply-To: References: Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Organization: Message-Id: <1056828155.6289.33.camel@dhcp22.swansea.linux.org.uk> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.2.2 (1.2.2-5) Date: 28 Jun 2003 20:22:36 +0100 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1011 Lines: 22 On Sad, 2003-06-28 at 00:04, G. C. wrote: > Dear Sir or Madam, > > We are trying to port a third party hardware driver into Linux kernel and > this third party vendor does not allow us to publish the source code. Is > there any approach that we can avoid publicizing the third party code while > porting to Linux? Do we need to write some shim layer code in Linux kernel > to interface the third party code? How can we do that? Is there any document > or samples? > > Thank you very much in advance, I can understand why you asked the question here, but you need to ask a lawyer. The GPL license forbids derivative works being nonfree (eg binary only). Your question boils down to "what is not a derivative work", which is a lawyer not a programmer question - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/