Messages in this thread | | | Subject | Re: feature request - why not make netif_rx() a pointer? | From | "David S. Miller" <> | Date | 24 Oct 2002 06:46:55 -0700 |
| |
On Thu, 2002-10-24 at 06:30, Slavcho Nikolov wrote: > In other words, the new routine will not be a derivative of the old one > or some other part of the kernel. > Instead, I'll create my own (cleanroom) handler that doesn't reuse any > existing code, which in the end will either pass control to the GPL routine > being replaced or destroy the parameters and return. > I can't see how that is a violation of GPL. If it is, then hundreds of > Linux startups had better go bankrupt now instead of fighting losing > legal battles later.
Let me give you an example of what would be illegal.
Using this netif_rx() hook to implement a proprietary TCP stack to replace the GPL'd one in the kernel right now. And that is exactly the reason I want any such netif_rx function pointer crap to be EXPORT_GPL
And before someone, I forget who it was, barks again, EXPORT_GPL has no legal significance, it is merely an annotation. Whether a symbol is marked this way or not has no consequence on legal matters.
- 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/
| |