Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1030213AbVLFTya (ORCPT ); Tue, 6 Dec 2005 14:54:30 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1030216AbVLFTya (ORCPT ); Tue, 6 Dec 2005 14:54:30 -0500 Received: from viper.oldcity.dca.net ([216.158.38.4]:43745 "HELO viper.oldcity.dca.net") by vger.kernel.org with SMTP id S1030202AbVLFTy3 (ORCPT ); Tue, 6 Dec 2005 14:54:29 -0500 Subject: Re: Linux in a binary world... a doomsday scenario From: Lee Revell To: Jeff Garzik Cc: Brian Gerst , Arjan van de Ven , "M." , Andrea Arcangeli , William Lee Irwin III , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <4395E962.2060309@pobox.com> References: <1133779953.9356.9.camel@laptopd505.fenrus.org> <20051205121851.GC2838@holomorphy.com> <20051206011844.GO28539@opteron.random> <43944F42.2070207@didntduck.org> <20051206030828.GA823@opteron.random> <1133869465.4836.11.camel@laptopd505.fenrus.org> <4394ECA7.80808@didntduck.org> <4395E2F4.7000308@pobox.com> <1133897867.29084.14.camel@mindpipe> <4395E962.2060309@pobox.com> Content-Type: text/plain Date: Tue, 06 Dec 2005 14:55:11 -0500 Message-Id: <1133898911.29084.25.camel@mindpipe> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.4.1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1114 Lines: 25 On Tue, 2005-12-06 at 14:41 -0500, Jeff Garzik wrote: > Lee Revell wrote: > > On Tue, 2005-12-06 at 14:13 -0500, Jeff Garzik wrote: > >>Let's hope the rev-eng people do it the right way, by having one team > >>write a document, and a totally separate team write the driver from > >>that document. > > > Isn't it also legal for a single person or team to capture all IO > > to/from the device with a bus analyzer or kernel debugger and write a > > driver from that, as long as you don't disassemble the original driver? > > It's still legally shaky. The "Chinese wall" approach I described above > is beyond reproach, and that's where Linux needs to be. I know you are not a lawyer but do you have a pointer or two? As long as we are REing for interoperability I've never read anything to indicate the approach I described could be a problem even in the US. Lee - 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/