Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S932630AbXBPF5t (ORCPT ); Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:57:49 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S932635AbXBPF5s (ORCPT ); Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:57:48 -0500 Received: from mx1.redhat.com ([66.187.233.31]:48955 "EHLO mx1.redhat.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S932630AbXBPF5s (ORCPT ); Fri, 16 Feb 2007 00:57:48 -0500 To: Jeff Garzik Cc: "Michael K. Edwards" , v j , Theodore Tso , Dave Jones , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers 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> <45D4DCE3.9070002@garzik.org> <45D4FCC7.2090206@garzik.org> <45D53E19.2050100@garzik.org> From: Alexandre Oliva Organization: Red Hat OS Tools Group Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 03:57:36 -0200 In-Reply-To: <45D53E19.2050100@garzik.org> (Jeff Garzik's message of "Fri\, 16 Feb 2007 00\:16\:09 -0500") Message-ID: User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.0.93 (gnu/linux) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1771 Lines: 43 On Feb 16, 2007, Jeff Garzik wrote: > Alexandre Oliva wrote: >> On Feb 15, 2007, Jeff Garzik wrote: >> >>> Michael K. Edwards wrote: >>>> On 2/15/07, Jeff Garzik wrote: >> >>>>> The /whole point/ of the GPL is to funnel contributions back. >> >>>> Bzzzt. The whole point of the GPL is to "guarantee your freedom to >>>> share and change free software--to make sure the software is free for >>>> all its users." >> >>> No, that's the FSF marketing fluff you've been taught to recite. >> >> The same FSF that wrote the GPL, no less ;-) >> >>> I'm referring to the original reason why Linus chose the GPL >> If he chose it for this reason, he chose the wrong license. > Strange, then, how its been so successful in funelling back contributions. There's nothing strange about it. Promoting (as opposed to mandating) contributions is a great possible, even probable consequence of the GPL, but it is far from being the whole point of the GPL. If Linus' whole point had been to funnel back contributions, assuming he fully understood the GPL back when he chose it, he'd probably have chosen a different license that *required* contributions to be funneled back. And then Linux would have remained non-Free Software. -- Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/ FSF Latin America Board Member http://www.fsfla.org/ Red Hat Compiler Engineer aoliva@{redhat.com, gcc.gnu.org} Free Software Evangelist oliva@{lsd.ic.unicamp.br, gnu.org} - 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/