question about closed source alsa driver

question about closed source alsa driver

[Sergey Kolosov]

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Can i  write closed source alsa-driver? If it possible what rules I must
succeed(etc. can I use alsa function or I must implement it anew?).

P.S.
It is not my initiative, but license agreement.

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Re: question about closed source alsa driver

[Petter Sundlöf]

Question is, in my mind: Should you?

Sergey Kolosov wrote:
> Can i  write closed source alsa-driver? If it possible what rules I must 
> succeed(etc. can I use alsa function or I must implement it anew?).
> 
> P.S.
> It is not my initiative, but license agreement.


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Re: question about closed source alsa driver

[Sergey Kolosov]

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 Whether me interests if I shall write closed source alsa driver there will
be it violations gpl?

On 5/16/06, Petter Sundlöf <petter.sundlof@findus.dhs.org> wrote:
>
> Question is, in my mind: Should you?
>
> Sergey Kolosov wrote:
> > Can i  write closed source alsa-driver? If it possible what rules I must
> > succeed(etc. can I use alsa function or I must implement it anew?).
> >
> > P.S.
> > It is not my initiative, but license agreement.
>

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Re: question about closed source alsa driver

[Lee Revell]

On Tue, 2006-05-16 at 17:37 +0400, Sergey Kolosov wrote:
> Whether me interests if I shall write closed source alsa driver there
> will be it violations gpl?
> 

No you cannot.  The ALSA driver core is GPL so all drivers must be GPL.

Why do you need to hide the hardware details?  It's just a sound card.

Lee

> On 5/16/06, Petter Sundlöf <petter.sundlof@findus.dhs.org> wrote:
>         Question is, in my mind: Should you?
>         
>         Sergey Kolosov wrote:
>         > Can i  write closed source alsa-driver? If it possible what
>         rules I must
>         > succeed(etc. can I use alsa function or I must implement it
>         anew?).
>         >
>         > P.S.
>         > It is not my initiative, but license agreement. 
> 



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Re: question about closed source alsa driver

[Juan Carlos Castro y Castro]

Lee Revell wrote:

>On Tue, 2006-05-16 at 17:37 +0400, Sergey Kolosov wrote:
>  
>
>>Whether me interests if I shall write closed source alsa driver there
>>will be it violations gpl?
>>    
>>
>No you cannot.  The ALSA driver core is GPL so all drivers must be GPL.
>
>Why do you need to hide the hardware details?  It's just a sound card.
>  
>
It may be that his bosses are not as enlightened as him... you and I 
understand that publishing the hardware interface to a sound card hardly 
gives away crucial secrets, but PHBs might not. Maybe some evangelism is 
in order.


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Re: question about closed source alsa driver

[Lee Revell]

On Tue, 2006-05-16 at 12:22 -0300, Juan Carlos Castro y Castro wrote:
> Lee Revell wrote:
> 
> >On Tue, 2006-05-16 at 17:37 +0400, Sergey Kolosov wrote:
> >  
> >
> >>Whether me interests if I shall write closed source alsa driver there
> >>will be it violations gpl?
> >>    
> >>
> >No you cannot.  The ALSA driver core is GPL so all drivers must be GPL.
> >
> >Why do you need to hide the hardware details?  It's just a sound card.
> >  
> >
> It may be that his bosses are not as enlightened as him... you and I 
> understand that publishing the hardware interface to a sound card hardly 
> gives away crucial secrets, but PHBs might not. Maybe some evangelism is 
> in order.
> 

They just need to survey the market - I would think it would be enough
to see that Intel, Via, M-Audio, RME, Creative, and countless other
vendors all have provided open source ALSA drivers.

Lee



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Re: question about closed source alsa driver

[Juan Carlos Castro y Castro]

Lee Revell wrote:

>>you and I understand that publishing the hardware interface to a sound card hardly gives away crucial secrets... Maybe some evangelism is in order.
>>    
>>
>They just need to survey the market - I would think it would be enough
>to see that Intel, Via, M-Audio, RME, Creative, and countless other
>vendors all have provided open source ALSA drivers.
>  
>
Now THAT's effective evangelism! Hey Sergey -- show this to your bosses!


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Re: question about closed source alsa driver

[Sergey Kolosov]

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It's not just a sound card. It's driver for device but sound is one of the
basic functions( still there are other parts, initialize mapping etc). Maybe
I emit some functions to other module...

On 5/16/06, Lee Revell <rlrevell@joe-job.com> wrote:
>
> On Tue, 2006-05-16 at 17:37 +0400, Sergey Kolosov wrote:
> > Whether me interests if I shall write closed source alsa driver there
> > will be it violations gpl?
> >
>
> No you cannot.  The ALSA driver core is GPL so all drivers must be GPL.
>
> Why do you need to hide the hardware details?  It's just a sound card.
>
> Lee
>
> > On 5/16/06, Petter Sundlöf <petter.sundlof@findus.dhs.org> wrote:
> >         Question is, in my mind: Should you?
> >
> >         Sergey Kolosov wrote:
> >         > Can i  write closed source alsa-driver? If it possible what
> >         rules I must
> >         > succeed(etc. can I use alsa function or I must implement it
> >         anew?).
> >         >
> >         > P.S.
> >         > It is not my initiative, but license agreement.
> >
>
>

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Re: question about closed source alsa driver

[Thierry Vignaud]

"Sergey Kolosov" <freeserj@gmail.com> writes:

> It's not just a sound card. It's driver for device but sound is one
> of the basic functions( still there are other parts, initialize
> mapping etc). Maybe I emit some functions to other module...

anyway, since:

$ ~/cvs/alsa $ head -2 alsa-driver/COPYING
                    GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
                       Version 2, June 1991

it's obvious one cannot link a non GPL-compatible driver with ALSA
core... [1]

maybe, if they really fell, they can't release the whole stuff under
GPL (or under a GPL compatible license), they'll have to release the
sound driver part as GPL.

also, since:

- lots of symbols in various kernel subsystem are forbidden to be used
  by non GPL (or GPL compatible) by drivers (eg EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL)

- some kernel developers have explicitely set the boundary (look at
  GPL and discussions about GPL) for the linking in order to forbid
  creating binary drivers using their subsystems and/or frameworks.

it can be uneasy to write a proprietary driver w/o legal matters for
the other parts (non sound stuff).

either one accepts the license or it doesn't (and then he cannot link)

my 2 cents.


[1] unless all ALSA developers (including all those who sent patches i
    guess) acknoledge to set the GPL boundary (eg where ended what is
    called a "derivative work") at the point one can write such a
    driver


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