Re: People, not GPL [was: Re: Driver Model]

[Timothy Miller <miller@techsource.com>]

David Schwartz wrote:

> 	However, some people seem to be arguing that the GPL_ONLY symbols are in
> fact a license enforcement technique. If that's true, then when they
> distribute their code, they are putting additional restrictions not in the
> GPL on it. That is a GPL violation.

Agreed.  GPL_ONLY is not a license restriction.  It is a technical issue.

Binary-only modules are inherently untrustworthy (no open code review) 
and undebuggable.  It is therefore of technical merit to restrict both 
what they can access in the kernel (GPL_ONLY) and limit how much kernel 
developers should have to tolerate when they're involved.

But beyond this, there are some social issues.  If someone finds a way 
to work around this mechanism, they are breaking things to everyone 
else's detriment.  For a commercial entity to violate the GPL_ONLY 
barrier is an insult to kernel developers AND to their customers who 
will have trouble getting problems solved.

So, if a company works around GPL_ONLY, are they violating the GPL 
license?  Probably not.  Does that make it OKAY?  Probably not.

This is like finding a way to give a user space program access to kernel 
resources.  There are barriers put in place for a REASON because people 
make mistakes when they write software.  If no one did, we wouldn't have 
any need for memory protection, would we.