Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262149AbTIMNpL (ORCPT ); Sat, 13 Sep 2003 09:45:11 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S262152AbTIMNpL (ORCPT ); Sat, 13 Sep 2003 09:45:11 -0400 Received: from w032.z064001165.sjc-ca.dsl.cnc.net ([64.1.165.32]:1602 "EHLO nakedeye.aparity.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262149AbTIMNpH (ORCPT ); Sat, 13 Sep 2003 09:45:07 -0400 Date: Fri, 12 Sep 2003 17:29:26 -0700 (PDT) From: "Matt D. Robinson" To: David Schwartz cc: Alan Cox , Timothy Miller , Pascal Schmidt , Linux Kernel Mailing List Subject: RE: People, not GPL [was: Re: Driver Model] In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1706 Lines: 38 On Fri, 12 Sep 2003, David Schwartz wrote: |>> On Gwe, 2003-09-12 at 22:47, Matt D. Robinson wrote: |>> > So include GPL_ONLY(), don't include GPL_ONLY(), whatever. If you |>> > don't like it, Mr. Customer, find a Linux distributor that will |>> > fix the problem for you. |> |>> Linux vendors have already recieved, and decided to act on cease and |>> desist letters involving adding hooks (ie EXPORT_SYMBOL stuff) for non |>> free modules that were not in the base distro. I think that speaks for |>> part of the legal view. |> |> Who is sending these letters? Who has no respect for the GPL and seeks to |>add additional restrictions? IMO, these letters are almost as bad as the SCO |>letters. Nobody has any business putting additional licensing restrictions |>on code was placed under the GPL. |> |> DS FUD, Inc. If these really did exist, they would be more commonly known and I'm certain would affect customer choice. IMHO, I think this is the vendor's (and I specifically think of Red Hat) way of excusing themselves from having to work with third party vendors in order to cover themselves legally with groups like the FSF. Whether that's true or not, or if there is some other developer contingent at these distribution houses that is preventing the EXPORT_SYMBOL{,GPL}() changes due to personal bias, I don't know. And I doubt we'll ever know. These letters are like WMD -- they exist, you know they do, but you just can't find them. :) --Matt - 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/