Messages in this thread | | | Date | Wed, 2 Feb 2005 16:30:10 -0800 | From | Greg KH <> | Subject | Re: Please open sysfs symbols to proprietary modules |
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On Wed, Feb 02, 2005 at 07:07:21PM -0500, Pavel Roskin wrote: > On Wed, 2 Feb 2005, Greg KH wrote: > >On Wed, Feb 02, 2005 at 03:23:30PM -0800, Patrick Mochel wrote: > >> > >>What is wrong with creating a (GPL'd) abstraction layer that exports > >>symbols to the proprietary modules? > > > >Ick, no! > > > >Please consult with a lawyer before trying this. I know a lot of them > >consider doing this just as forbidden as marking your module > >MODULE_LICENSE("GPL"); when it really isn't. > > There will be a GPL'd layer, and it's likely that sysfs interaction will > be on the GPL'd side anyway, for purely technical reasons. But it does > feel like circumvention of the limitations set in the kernel.
It is. And as such, it is not allowed.
> I thought it would be polite to ask the developers to lift those > limitations, considering that they seem unfair and inconsistent with > the stated purpose of EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL.
No, the stated purpose of that marking is to prevent non-GPLd code from using those symbols. I don't see how you can state that using sysfs files in your driver does not make it a "derived work" and force you to make all of your driver GPL.
I suggest that you consult your company's lawyers for what to do here.
Good luck,
greg k-h - 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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