Messages in this thread | | | Date | Mon, 10 Apr 2006 23:31:27 -0700 (PDT) | From | Ramakanth Gunuganti <> | Subject | GPL issues |
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I am trying to understand the GPL boundaries for Linux, any clarification provided on the following issues below would be great:
As part of a project, I would like to extend the Linux kernel to support some additional features needed for the project, the changes will include: o Modification to Linux kernel. o Adding new kernel modules. o New system calls/IOCTLs to use the kernel modifications/LKMs.
All kernel changes including LKMs will be released under GPL.
Questions:
(Any reference to GPL license while answering these questions would be great)
1. If an application is built on top of this modified kernel, should the application be released under GPL? Do system calls provide a bounday for GPL? How does this work with LKMs, all the code for LKMs will be released but would a userspace application using the LKMs choose not to use GPL?
2. If the application has to be packaged with the Linux kernel, example: tarball that includes kernel + application, can this application be released without GPL. (The changes to Linux kernel are already released under GPL).
3. How does this work if this application + kernel has to run on a proprietary system on a seperate interface card? Can I assume that once there is a clear hardware boundary rest of the software for the system does not have to be released under GPL? The software for the interface card will be built and distributed seperately from the rest of the software.
4. Can the GPL code and non-GPL code exist under the same source tree?
5. In case of litigation, will there be pressure to open up other parts of the software (non-GPL) running on the same system but on other hardware components interacting with this new package on a different interface card?
Anyone trying to build a new application to work on Linux must have these issues clarified, if you can share your experiences that would be great too.
Thanks, Ram
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