Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S261169AbUD3VKD (ORCPT ); Fri, 30 Apr 2004 17:10:03 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S261430AbUD3VHa (ORCPT ); Fri, 30 Apr 2004 17:07:30 -0400 Received: from kinesis.swishmail.com ([209.10.110.86]:64527 "EHLO kinesis.swishmail.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S261179AbUD3VGJ (ORCPT ); Fri, 30 Apr 2004 17:06:09 -0400 Message-ID: <4092C0DF.1070001@techsource.com> Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2004 17:10:55 -0400 From: Timothy Miller MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Marc Boucher CC: Linus Torvalds , "'Sean Estabrooks'" , "'Paul Wagland'" , "'Rik van Riel'" , "'Bartlomiej Zolnierkiewicz'" , "'Peter Williams'" , Hua Zhong , "'lkml - Kernel Mailing List'" , koke@sindominio.net, "'Rusty Russell'" , "'David Gibson'" Subject: Re: [PATCH] Blacklist binary-only modules lying about their license References: <009701c42edf$25e47390$ca41cb3f@amer.cisco.com> <90DD8A88-9AE2-11D8-B83D-000A95BCAC26@linuxant.com> <69A8B470-9AE6-11D8-B83D-000A95BCAC26@linuxant.com> <6238ED6D-9AE8-11D8-B83D-000A95BCAC26@linuxant.com> In-Reply-To: <6238ED6D-9AE8-11D8-B83D-000A95BCAC26@linuxant.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1151 Lines: 33 Marc Boucher wrote: > > > On Apr 30, 2004, at 4:44 PM, Linus Torvalds wrote: > >> >> The Linux-centric parts are absolutely NOT stand-alone, and one big part >> of that Linux-centric stuff is that magic line that says >> MODULE_LICENSE(). >> > > are you claiming that anything that uses the MODULE_LICENSE() macro > becomes a derived work of the Linux kernel subject to the GPL? Well, some people might argue that, but let's put that aside for the moment. I think one of the things he's implying is that anything which says MODULE_LICENSE("GPL") (which is what your driver did) is required to actually BE under the GPL. Technically, since the Linux kernel headers are under GPL, including them into your code does make your code a derived work. However, people are allowed to slide on this in certain strict circumstances, especially when MODULE_LICENSE doesn't say the license is GPL. - 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/