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    DateSat, 1 Dec 2007 11:17:36 -0800
    FromStephen Hemminger <>
    SubjectRe: namespace support requires network modules to say "GPL"
    On Sat, 01 Dec 2007 08:10:17 -0500
    Mark Lord <lkml@rtr.ca> wrote:
    
    > > Now that we have network namespace support merged it is time to
    > > revisit the sysfs support so we can remove the dependency on !SYSFS.
    > ...
    > 
    > Now that the namespace updates are part of 2.6.24,
    > there is a major inconsistency in network EXPORT_SYMBOLs.
    > 
    > It used to be that an external network module could get away without
    > having to add a MODULE_LICENSE("GPL*") line to the source.
    > 
    > In support of that, common networking functions (still) use EXPORT_SYMBOL()
    > rather than the more restrictive EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL().
    > 
    > Eg.  register_netdev(), sk_alloc(), __dev_get_by_name().
    > 
    > But now, none of those three are actually usable by default,
    > because they all require "init_net", which is EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL().
    > 
    
    Then init_net needs to be not GPL limited. Sorry, we need to allow
    non GPL network drivers.  There is a fine line between keeping the
    binary seething masses from accessing random kernel functions, and allowing
    reasonable (but still non GPL) things like ndiswrapper to use network
    device interface.
    
    -- 
    Stephen Hemminger <shemminger@linux-foundation.org>
    
    
    
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