Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S932574AbXBPFsp (ORCPT ); Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:48:45 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S932578AbXBPFsp (ORCPT ); Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:48:45 -0500 Received: from nz-out-0506.google.com ([64.233.162.227]:20865 "EHLO nz-out-0506.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S932574AbXBPFso (ORCPT ); Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:48:44 -0500 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=beta; h=received:message-id:date:from:to:subject:cc:in-reply-to:mime-version:content-type:content-transfer-encoding:content-disposition:references; b=r6mnDd0VvY5u4x4AozFUmzJ0q9lk7wHkLtpY0nDY5hPACFBWAJBIKF5YBeeWOKupC8gZtHSz1aGHoPA2lfLtE8ZPTdfPTGnGsG/pWvbLQhAq2wUrJe23SM8RQ4RI8x6fLZeUOhLxEkhgm1/0y6jL1hxY7YsCg1kYo6gGo0rn74o= Message-ID: <9b3a62ab0702152148p57db8b1dgd42b1c6fb15dccbb@mail.gmail.com> Date: Thu, 15 Feb 2007 21:48:43 -0800 From: "v j" To: "David Lang" Subject: Re: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers Cc: "Scott Preece" , "Miguel Ojeda" , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline References: <9b3a62ab0702142115m4ea7d2c0m6869eb64ef3ee14e@mail.gmail.com> <9b3a62ab0702142116n4069e16cl1bc8f546f41d935@mail.gmail.com> <20070215061149.GE15654@redhat.com> <9b3a62ab0702142227j19386132s870a0e745cfbb8d1@mail.gmail.com> <20070215165339.GB5285@thunk.org> <9b3a62ab0702151020k5bd0e4c9w763e1b01288ccc4f@mail.gmail.com> <653402b90702151102n3a3e0435r837e2191de79b2b@mail.gmail.com> <7b69d1470702151712x685f3e0eqf6198f9bb7f2394e@mail.gmail.com> Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1401 Lines: 27 > > So, how are such companies any different from the myriad individuals > > and companies that use Linux on the desktop or in their server rooms > > without ever modifying it and who also contribute nothing back to the > > community? They are also, in many (most?) cases taking advantage of > > the free (as in beer) nature of Linux - saving money by using the work > > of others without returning anything, but the product builders seem to > > get a lot more abuse... > > if they don't modify it and don't distribute it there is not issue. This is only because of the terms of GPL. Morally, as many here have pointed out this should fall into the same category. > it's people who modify it (by creating a derived work) and then redistribute it > that get the abuse. Atleast we try and report genuine bugs and submit patches when necessary. We get abuse however because it is not clear what the terms of GPL are WRT loadable modules. If this were written in black and white and we knew what we were fighting against, this would not be an issue. We only get crap because no one here yet knows how to interpret proprietary modules loaded into the kernel. - 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/