Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1751890AbXBPITy (ORCPT ); Fri, 16 Feb 2007 03:19:54 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S966196AbXBPITy (ORCPT ); Fri, 16 Feb 2007 03:19:54 -0500 Received: from turing-police.cc.vt.edu ([128.173.14.107]:44968 "EHLO turing-police.cc.vt.edu" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751889AbXBPITx (ORCPT ); Fri, 16 Feb 2007 03:19:53 -0500 Message-Id: <200702160819.l1G8JnmZ013706@turing-police.cc.vt.edu> X-Mailer: exmh version 2.7.2 01/07/2005 with nmh-1.2 To: "linux-os (Dick Johnson)" Cc: Manu Abraham , Mws , v j , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers In-Reply-To: Your message of "Thu, 15 Feb 2007 09:32:30 EST." From: Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu References: <9b3a62ab0702142115m4ea7d2c0m6869eb64ef3ee14e@mail.gmail.com> <9b3a62ab0702142116n4069e16cl1bc8f546f41d935@mail.gmail.com> <200702151254.39058.mws@twisted-brains.org> <1a297b360702150451n3dca1140ra6827cfde020eed5@mail.gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/signed; boundary="==_Exmh_1171613989_6166P"; micalg=pgp-sha1; protocol="application/pgp-signature" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Fri, 16 Feb 2007 03:19:49 -0500 Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 2253 Lines: 50 --==_Exmh_1171613989_6166P Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii On Thu, 15 Feb 2007 09:32:30 EST, "linux-os (Dick Johnson)" said: > There are a lot of device drivers that will never make it into the > mainline kernel because they are for one-of-a-kind devices or boards > that companies embed into their products. Nobody would even want a > copy of the software to interface with something that they would > never even have. When Version 2.6 started, it became necessary to > use special tools and procedures to compile a module that was not > inside the mainline kernel. However, it was still quite easy. Recently, > somebody, apparently with an advanced degree in obfuscation, has made > that more difficult. This is abuse, pure and simple. That, in my > opinion, is one of the major reasons why people who use Linux in > embedded systems end up using very old versions. Actually, the *real* reason embedded systems end up using old versions is much simpler. They start developing their code on release 2.X.Y, and they keep their code out-of-tree. Then, when they come up for air, and it's at 2.X.(Y+15), they discover that we weren't kidding when we shipped stable_api_nonsense.txt, and since their code isn't in the tree, they have to do all the API cleanup themselves, because no flock of nit-picking kernel janitor monkeys swarmed over their code and magically fixed it up for them. And unless Y+15 has some *very* compelling reasons to move forward, just sticking at Y suddenly starts looking very good, because watching somebody else's kernel janitor monkeys fix your code is fairly cheap, but paying your own kernel janitor monkeys gets expensive really fast.... --==_Exmh_1171613989_6166P Content-Type: application/pgp-signature -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.6 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Exmh version 2.5 07/13/2001 iD8DBQFF1WklcC3lWbTT17ARAqjPAJ9dQn7pF07M88fRR5M7WbMgxpenXQCgmkEJ OFR9UrEhXGVCiCH7TrwzpCc= =doKV -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --==_Exmh_1171613989_6166P-- - 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/