Messages in this thread | | | From | David Newall <> | Subject | Re: [PATCH] USB: mark USB drivers as being GPL only | Date | Tue, 05 Feb 2008 22:09:07 +1030 |
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Marcel Holtmann writes: > if a new drivers is originally written for Linux, then you are breaking > the GPL.
Completely wrong. However if the driver is distributed as built-in, then it would need to be licensed under GPL. This means that a driver can be written and distributed as a module under any licence, proprietary or otherwise, presumably with the restriction that it may NOT be built-in.
> You driver was meant to be > running as Linux kernel module and thus it is derivative work.
It is precisely the fact that it is a loadable module, and does not form part of the kernel, that removes the requirement to distribute it under GPL.
> What are you arguing here. It makes no difference if it is technical or > not. The EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL gives you a clear hint that when using this > symbol, you have to obey to the GPL.
And that "hint" is a lie.
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