Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S267829AbUJORl6 (ORCPT ); Fri, 15 Oct 2004 13:41:58 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S266879AbUJORl5 (ORCPT ); Fri, 15 Oct 2004 13:41:57 -0400 Received: from chaos.analogic.com ([204.178.40.224]:7040 "EHLO chaos.analogic.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S268251AbUJORhO (ORCPT ); Fri, 15 Oct 2004 13:37:14 -0400 Date: Fri, 15 Oct 2004 13:35:37 -0400 (EDT) From: "Richard B. Johnson" Reply-To: root@chaos.analogic.com To: David Woodhouse cc: Josh Boyer , gene.heskett@verizon.net, Linux kernel , Roman Zippel , David Howells , "Rusty Russell (IBM)" , Greg KH , Arjan van de Ven , Joy Latten Subject: Re: Fw: signed kernel modules? In-Reply-To: <1097860121.13633.358.camel@hades.cambridge.redhat.com> Message-ID: References: <27277.1097702318@redhat.com> <1097843492.29988.6.camel@weaponx.rchland.ibm.com> <200410151153.08527.gene.heskett@verizon.net> <1097857049.29988.29.camel@weaponx.rchland.ibm.com> <1097860121.13633.358.camel@hades.cambridge.redhat.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2276 Lines: 58 On Fri, 15 Oct 2004, David Woodhouse wrote: > On Fri, 2004-10-15 at 12:59 -0400, Richard B. Johnson wrote: >> We let this start when there were problems with secret video >> modules. Nobody wanted to debug a kernel that could be corrupted >> by a module where nobody could read the source-code. So if there >> isn't a MODULE_LICENSE("POLICY") then a 'tainted' mark goes >> in any OOPS report. Well, they got away with that. It was >> explained away as being "good" policy. Now they are making >> more policy. > > Please quit being a fuckwit, Richard. You've escaped my killfile so far > despite being in so many other peoples, because it's often amusing to > find the deliberate mistake in your posts when they actually appear > plausible. > > The above is not policy; it's a mechanism. It provides the information. > Developers _use_ that information to implement their own policy, and > refrain from helping those whose kernels are tainted. > > Signing kernel modules is just the same. You just don't get it. This is policy. Script started on Fri 15 Oct 2004 01:13:59 PM EDT # insmod xxx.ko xxx: module license 'BSD' taints kernel. # exit Script done on Fri 15 Oct 2004 01:14:26 PM EDT How dare somebody decide that a BSD license that makes source-code available, but doesn't give its control to Stallman, somehow taints the kernel. Wake up! This is policy and bad policy, too. If it wasn't for UC Berkeley, there wouldn't even be a Linux, it was deliberately designed to be compatible so the Berkeley (read UNIX) utilities would run. This was well before GNU did anything but a 'C' compiler and eimacs. BTW us.ibm.com has an interesting policy, the name in the DNS expires in a few minutes and only becomes available for a few minutes each day. That means that anything sent to Josh Boyer , in the c.c. list, above, gets cached here until the name resolves. Cheers, Dick Johnson Penguin : Linux version 2.6.8 on an i686 machine (5537.79 BogoMips). Note 96.31% of all statistics are fiction. - 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/