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David Lang wrote: > becouse of this you could take the kernel and include any propriatary code > in it that you want and run it. You don't even need to use modules, just > paste in th code and compile (make sure you have a legal right to the code > you are pasting in though :-) To elaborate on this: most patches which apply to the Linux kernel are clearly derived works of the kernel.[*] You can write and apply such a patch , but if you distribute the patch it must be licensed under the GPL. Thus while _you_ may take a Linux kernel and include any proprietary code you want in it, a vendor _may not_ send you a patch which applies to the Linux kernel if the patch is not licensed under the GPL or a compatible license. A vendor is not allowed to restrict your rights in this way. [*] Exceptions would be patches which are very small (<10 lines is sometimes suggested, but it's not a hard boundary), and patches which simply add code which is clearly not derived form the kernel, as Linus described. -- Jamie - 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/ | ||||||||||||
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