Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S933452AbYB2Q4V (ORCPT ); Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:56:21 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1755694AbYB2Q4J (ORCPT ); Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:56:09 -0500 Received: from zcars04f.nortel.com ([47.129.242.57]:65245 "EHLO zcars04f.nortel.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752237AbYB2Q4I (ORCPT ); Fri, 29 Feb 2008 11:56:08 -0500 Message-ID: <47C838C5.8030707@nortel.com> Date: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:54:29 -0600 From: "Chris Friesen" User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.2-6 (X11/20050513) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Linus Torvalds CC: Pavel Roskin , linux-kernel , Jon Masters , Rusty Russell Subject: Re: [PATCH 2.6.25] module: allow ndiswrapper to use GPL-only symbols References: <1204236662.3612.6.camel@dv> <20080229012012.ajlsk4pow8wkkgss@webmail.spamcop.net> In-Reply-To: Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-OriginalArrivalTime: 29 Feb 2008 16:54:32.0450 (UTC) FILETIME=[C1A4BE20:01C87AF3] Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1224 Lines: 32 Linus Torvalds wrote: > > On Fri, 29 Feb 2008, Pavel Roskin wrote: > >>>I'm not seeing why ndiswrapper should be treated separately. >> >>It is already treated separately, and has been for a long time. > > > No, I mean "separately from the thing it loads". > > It loads non-GPL code, it is non-GPL. But the GPL only applies to derivative works. Given that ndiswrapper loads binaries designed for another OS, doesn't that mean that it is unlikely that the binaries would be impacted by the GPL? So the portion that is a derivative work (ndiswrapper itself) is GPL, and it loads something that is clearly not a derivative work. From a licensing standpoint how is this different than an open-source driver loading a proprietary firmware? Once ndiswrapper loads the binary blob the kernel should be considered tainted from a debuggability standpoint, but I have some sympathy for an argument suggesting that ndiswrapper should be able to use GPLONLY symbols. Chris -- 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/