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SubjectRe: Possible GPL infringement in Broadcom-based routers
Date
On Nov 04, 2004, at 18:57, David Schwartz wrote:
>
>> Can Broadcom and the vendors "escape" the obligations of the GPL by
>> shipping those proprietary drivers as modules, or are they violating
>> the
>> GPL plain and simple by removing the related source code (and showing
>> irrelevant code to show "proof of good will") ?
>
> That is a contentious issue that has been debated on this group far
> too
> much. In the United States, at least, the answer comes down to the
> complex
> legal question of whether the module is a "derived work" of the Linux
> kernel
> and whether the kernel as shipped with those modules is a "mere
> aggregation".

Well, from what I can see of the makefiles and sources they distribute,
they
_don't_ distribute it as kernel+modules, they compile their drivers
directly
into their kernel:

./arch/mips/brcm-boards/bcm96345/Makefile:EXTRA_CFLAGS +=
-I$(TOPDIR)/../../targets
./drivers/char/bcm96345/board/Makefile:EXTRA_CFLAGS += -I.
-I$(HPATH)/asm/bcm96345 -I$(TOPDIR)/../../targets -fno-exceptions
./Makefile:SUBDIRS +=modulesrc/drivers ../../targets
./Makefile:DRIVERS-y += modulesrc/drivers/kermods.o ../../targets/bp.o

They may call the directory "modulesrc", but it does _NOT_ appear to be
linked as a kernel module, but directly into the kernel. I think that
in this
case their build process is too tightly integrated with the kernel to
_not_
be a derivative work.

Cheers,
Kyle Moffett

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
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