Messages in this thread |  | | From | "Morris Chen" <> | Subject | If loadable modules are covered by Linux GPL? | Date | Wed, 30 Aug 2000 15:54:17 +0800 |
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=big5"> <META content="MSHTML 5.50.4134.600" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=MingLiu size=2> <DIV><FONT face=MingLiu size=2>Dear Sirs,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2>Since GNU guys wrote like follows that there were some exceptions of GPL for loadable kernel modules provided by Linux developers, could you please provide some comments on our question? Your prompt reply is greatly appreciated.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2>>>---</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2><FONT size=3>Loadable modules that are specifically designed to work with a GPL'ed<BR>program are considered legally to be derived works of that program. Thus,<BR>if you make a loadable module for GPL'ed program, and distribute it, you<BR>must distribute the source code with it under a GPL-compatible license.<BR>We never consider a module of this nature a separate work.<BR><BR>However, the developers of the kernel named Linux have sadly granted special<BR>exceptions to the GPL for the case of loadable modules. This exception has<BR>nothing to do with the GPL; the copyright holder of a program has the right<BR>to grant additional exceptions outside the license itself. Thus, if you<BR>want to take advantage of such an exception, you should contact the<BR>developers of Linux, <</FONT><A href="mailto:linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org"><FONT size=3>linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org</FONT></A><FONT size=3>>.</FONT></FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2>---<<</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2>Thanks in advance.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2>Best regards,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2>Morris Chen</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=MingLiu></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=MingLiu>My previous mail ----------</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=MingLiu></FONT> </DIV> <DIV> <DIV><FONT face=MingLiu size=2> <DIV><FONT face=MingLiu size=2>Dear Sirs,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2>We are a leading anti-virus solution provider on Unix. Currently we are trying to port our products to Linux. Our products consist of some loadable kernel modules and daemons as well on Linux. The loadable kernel modules are called 'hooks', which will change the runtime values of sys_call_table[] of arch/i386/kernel/entry.S but never modify the copy of entry.S file on the hard disk. According to the following 'exceptions' of GPL, we want to know whether they won't be covered by GPL or not if we distribute the Linux kernel and then our products at different timepoints on the same host. Or is there any way else that they won't be covered by GPL? Your prompt reply is greatly appreciated.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2>-----</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體>These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole. If identifiable sections of that work are not derived from the Program, and can be reasonably considered independent and separate works in themselves, then this License, and its terms, do not apply to those sections when you distribute them as separate works. But when you distribute the same sections as part of a whole which is a work based on the Program, the distribution of the whole must be on the terms of this License, whose permissions for other licensees extend to the entire whole, and thus to each and every part regardless of who wrote it. </FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2>-----</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2>Thanks in advance.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2>Best regards,</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=細明體 size=2>Morris Chen</FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV></DIV></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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