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Date: Thu, 28 Feb 2002 01:51:52 +0100
From: Erik Mouw <J.A.K.Mouw@its.tudelft.nl>
To: "Richard B. Johnson" <root@chaos.analogic.com>
Cc: Allo! Allo! <lachinois@hotmail.com>, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Kernel module ethics.
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On Wed, Feb 27, 2002 at 05:23:41PM -0500, Richard B. Johnson wrote:
> So, enter the compromise. Make your proprietary stuff in separate file(s)
> known only to your company. This keeps them trade secret. Compile them
> into a library. Provide that library with your module. The functions
> contained within that library should be documented as well as the
> calling parameters (a header file). This helps GPL maintainers
> determine if your library is broken.

Brilliant, this violates section 2b from the GPLv2. If that's OK with
you, see a lawyer first.

A couple of months ago Larry McVoy gave this excellent advice:

  If you really want to know where you stand, it'll cost you around
  $15K and that, in my opinion, is fine. If it isn't worth $15K to
  protect your code then it is worth so little to you that there really
  is no good reason not to just GPL it from the start.


Erik

-- 
J.A.K. (Erik) Mouw, Information and Communication Theory Group, Faculty
of Information Technology and Systems, Delft University of Technology,
PO BOX 5031, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands  Phone: +31-15-2783635
Fax: +31-15-2781843  Email: J.A.K.Mouw@its.tudelft.nl
WWW: http://www-ict.its.tudelft.nl/~erik/
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