Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S264811AbUD1OIs (ORCPT ); Wed, 28 Apr 2004 10:08:48 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S264802AbUD1OH4 (ORCPT ); Wed, 28 Apr 2004 10:07:56 -0400 Received: from rrcs-central-24-123-144-118.biz.rr.com ([24.123.144.118]:20228 "EHLO zso-proxy.zeusinc.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S264789AbUD1OFa (ORCPT ); Wed, 28 Apr 2004 10:05:30 -0400 Subject: Re: [PATCH] Blacklist binary-only modules lying about their license From: Tom Sightler To: Marc Boucher Cc: Rusty Russell , pmarques@grupopie.com, lkml - Kernel Mailing List , malda@slashdot.org, c-d.hailfinger.kernel.2004@gmx.net, Linus Torvalds , jon787@tesla.resnet.mtu.edu In-Reply-To: <1EF114FF-98C4-11D8-85DF-000A95BCAC26@linuxant.com> References: <20040427165819.GA23961@valve.mbsi.ca> <1083107550.30985.122.camel@bach> <47B669B0-98A7-11D8-85DF-000A95BCAC26@linuxant.com> <1083117450.2152.222.camel@bach> <1EF114FF-98C4-11D8-85DF-000A95BCAC26@linuxant.com> Content-Type: text/plain Message-Id: <1083161029.3788.92.camel@localhost.localdomain> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.6 (1.4.6-1) Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 10:03:50 -0400 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2204 Lines: 43 On Tue, 2004-04-27 at 23:28, Marc Boucher wrote: > We generally prefer to focus on making stuff work for users, > rather than waste time arguing about controversial GPL politics. Well, as one of your customers (I am a paid/licensed user of your Conexant modem drivers for my Dell D800) I am completely turned off by this. I use a myriad of different binary drivers on various Linux systems, things like the NVidia binary driver, EMC PowerPath, VMware binary module, etc. EMC PowerPath compares well to your example as it consist of multiple modules and each one spits out a message. EMC simply used their documentation to tell the user that these messages means that the kernel can no longer be supported by the Linux community, however, they can be safely ignored. > I would like however to point out that part of the reason why people > sometimes resort to such kludges is that some kernel maintainers have > been rather reluctant to accommodate proprietary drivers which > unfortunately are a necessary real-world evil In my opinion your actions also represent a real-world evil. As a user I'm reluctant to use proprietary drivers and certainly don't expect the ones that I am forced to used to lie about that fact and try to pretend to be GPL when they are not. After reading this I realized that I myself have probably reported kernel BUG's while your drivers were loaded, not realizing that my kernel was really tainted because it didn't report that fact. Who knows how many other users may have done the same thing? You seem to think that acceptance of Linux is somehow more important that the GPL. In my opinion it's exactly the opposite, acceptance and recognition of the the importance of the GPL and the rights it gives you is more important than the acceptance of Linux. If the "real-world" forces you to do something that gives up those rights (loading a binary module) the kernel should definitely make the user aware. Later, Tom - 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/