From: Pavel Roskin <proski@gnu.org>
To: Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk>
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: incorrect taint of ndiswrapper
Date: Wed, 25 Oct 2006 17:06:32 -0400 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <1161810392.3441.60.camel@dv> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <1161808227.7615.0.camel@localhost.localdomain>
On Wed, 2006-10-25 at 21:30 +0100, Alan Cox wrote:
> Ar Mer, 2006-10-25 am 16:11 -0400, ysgrifennodd Pavel Roskin:
> > I don't see any legal reasons behind this restriction. A driver under
> > GPL should be able to use any exported symbols. EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL is a
> > technical mechanism of enforcing GPL against non-free code, but
> > ndiswrapper is free. The non-free NDIS drivers are not using those
> > symbols.
>
> The combination of GPL wrapper and the NDIS driver as a work is not free
> (in fact its questionable if its even legal to ship such a combination
> together).
So, the problem is on the legal side.
But I have to ask - which NDIS driver? I can write a free NDIS driver
and use it with ndiswrapper. You can say it's a stupid thing to do, but
once you talk about the legality, the only argument should be
legal/illegal. Besides, it may be a not such a bad idea for a ReactOS
developer writing a ReactOS driver to test it with Linux.
Also, nothing should prevent me from combining ndiswrapper with any
Windows driver in the privacy of my home as long as I don't distribute
anything. GPL doesn't have use restrictions (although the driver may
have an EULA).
Since the problem is with USB symbols, I can split the USB part from
ndiswrapper and call it ndiswrapper-usb. Then ndiswrapper-usb will be
calling the GPL-only symbols while ndiswrapper will be loading the
non-free modules. Good luck catching that! It's actually a change that
makes sense technically. Imagine what a change specifically intended to
fool Linux would do!
I don't see how the kernel can detect the cases where GPL is actually
violated without creating problem for honest users. Kernel code is not
a police department, let alone a court of law. Let's not create out own
DRM right in the kernel!
Companies that ship ndiswrapper with non-free modules may be breaking
copyright laws already. But it's not something that should be fought by
kernel patches.
--
Regards,
Pavel Roskin
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2006-10-25 21:06 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 65+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2006-10-25 20:11 incorrect taint of ndiswrapper Pavel Roskin
2006-10-25 20:30 ` Alan Cox
2006-10-25 20:40 ` Kyle Moffett
2006-10-25 21:04 ` Alan Cox
2006-10-25 21:06 ` Pavel Roskin [this message]
2006-10-25 21:33 ` David Weinehall
2006-10-25 22:02 ` Pavel Roskin
2006-10-25 22:54 ` Alan Cox
2006-10-25 22:58 ` Alan Cox
2006-10-26 3:23 ` David Weinehall
2006-10-26 13:13 ` Thierry Vignaud
2006-10-26 13:21 ` Gianluca Alberici
2006-10-26 3:59 ` Andrew Morton
2006-10-26 9:03 ` Gianluca Alberici
2006-10-26 10:39 ` Alan Cox
2006-10-26 12:21 ` Giacomo A. Catenazzi
2006-10-26 12:59 ` Gianluca Alberici
2006-10-26 14:41 ` Al Viro
2006-10-26 14:55 ` Alan Cox
2006-10-26 16:00 ` Stephen Hemminger
2006-10-26 16:26 ` Gianluca Alberici
2006-10-27 14:24 ` Arjan van de Ven
2006-10-27 15:14 ` Stephen Hemminger
2006-10-26 19:19 ` Pavel Roskin
2006-10-26 21:46 ` Adrian Bunk
2006-10-26 22:29 ` Pavel Roskin
2006-10-26 23:00 ` Adrian Bunk
2006-10-26 23:36 ` Sven-Haegar Koch
2006-10-27 0:57 ` Adrian Bunk
2006-10-26 23:47 ` Pavel Roskin
2006-10-27 12:52 ` Roland Kuhn
2006-10-27 15:53 ` Pavel Roskin
2006-10-26 17:26 ` [PATCH ??] " Randy Dunlap
2006-10-27 14:23 ` Arjan van de Ven
2006-10-27 15:27 ` Randy Dunlap
2006-10-27 18:26 ` Andrew Morton
2006-10-27 22:56 ` Florin Malita
2006-10-27 22:56 ` Randy Dunlap
2006-10-27 23:05 ` Alan Cox
2006-10-27 23:02 ` Randy Dunlap
2006-10-27 23:12 ` Florin Malita
2006-10-27 23:23 ` Oleg Verych
2006-10-29 11:27 ` Gianluca Alberici
2006-10-27 21:32 ` Florin Malita
2006-10-27 4:32 ` Florin Malita
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2006-10-23 5:41 Giridhar Pemmasani
2006-10-23 5:53 ` Gianluca Alberici
2006-10-23 6:25 ` Chase Venters
2006-10-23 6:41 ` Giridhar Pemmasani
2006-10-23 6:48 ` Gianluca Alberici
2006-10-23 7:12 ` Chase Venters
2006-10-23 11:07 ` Giridhar Pemmasani
2006-10-23 9:10 ` Gianluca Alberici
2006-10-23 9:39 ` Michal Schmidt
2006-10-23 8:24 ` Bernd Petrovitsch
2006-10-23 10:41 ` Alan Cox
2006-10-23 11:35 ` Giridhar Pemmasani
2006-10-23 13:00 ` Alan Cox
2006-10-24 2:43 ` Giridhar Pemmasani
2006-10-24 3:11 ` Randy Dunlap
2006-10-24 12:12 ` Pekka Enberg
2006-10-24 12:22 ` Alan Cox
2006-10-24 14:07 ` Alan Cox
2006-10-23 18:36 ` Zan Lynx
2006-10-24 11:59 ` Jan Engelhardt
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