Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262512AbVAJTsG (ORCPT ); Mon, 10 Jan 2005 14:48:06 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S262511AbVAJTrm (ORCPT ); Mon, 10 Jan 2005 14:47:42 -0500 Received: from clock-tower.bc.nu ([81.2.110.250]:3533 "EHLO localhost.localdomain") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262286AbVAJTcV (ORCPT ); Mon, 10 Jan 2005 14:32:21 -0500 Subject: Re: starting with 2.7 From: Alan Cox To: Dave Airlie Cc: John Richard Moser , znmeb@cesmail.net, Linux Kernel Mailing List In-Reply-To: <21d7e99705010917281c6634b8@mail.gmail.com> References: <1697129508.20050102210332@dns.toxicfilms.tv> <41DD9968.7070004@comcast.net> <1105045853.17176.273.camel@localhost.localdomain> <1105115671.12371.38.camel@DreamGate> <41DEC5F1.9070205@comcast.net> <1105237910.11255.92.camel@DreamGate> <41E0A032.5050106@comcast.net> <1105278618.12054.37.camel@localhost.localdomain> <41E1CCB7.4030302@comcast.net> <21d7e99705010917281c6634b8@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Message-Id: <1105361337.12054.66.camel@localhost.localdomain> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.4.6 (1.4.6-2) Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2005 18:27:52 +0000 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1176 Lines: 23 On Llu, 2005-01-10 at 01:28, Dave Airlie wrote: > I do wonder would open source kernel drivers to work with a closed > source user space application be accepted into the mainline kernel... > say for example Nvidia or VMware GPL'ed their lower layer kernel It isnt about whether they are "accepted" but whether they are derivative works. The license is quite clear on this with the specific clarification included for the syscall interface. For the most part the interfaces people need are pretty generic so the problems don't arise. We've seen that with the proposed 1Gb DMA area on x86-64 - Nvidia wanted a 4Gb one to fix their hardware needs and various other drivers want a 1Gb DMA area. That happens to also sort Nvidia's problems. >From DRI experience I'd say that a mostly user space nvidia driver would probably be almost as problematic as a binary kernel module. It would make reverse engineering a lot easier though 8) - 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/