From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-path: Received: from mx1.redhat.com ([209.132.183.28]:18935 "EHLO mx1.redhat.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751779Ab1FUPGb (ORCPT ); Tue, 21 Jun 2011 11:06:31 -0400 Message-ID: <4E00B36B.5010806@redhat.com> Date: Tue, 21 Jun 2011 12:06:19 -0300 From: Mauro Carvalho Chehab MIME-Version: 1.0 To: =?UTF-8?B?QmrDuHJuIE1vcms=?= CC: linux-media@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: [RFC] vtunerc - virtual DVB device driver References: <201106202037.19535.remi@remlab.net> <005a01cc2f7d$a799be30$f6cd3a90$@coexsi.fr> <4DFFB1DA.5000602@redhat.com> <4DFFF56D.5070602@redhat.com> <4E007AA7.7070400@linuxtv.org> <87wrgf8c7i.fsf@nemi.mork.no> In-Reply-To: <87wrgf8c7i.fsf@nemi.mork.no> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit List-ID: Sender: Em 21-06-2011 11:56, Bjørn Mork escreveu: > Devin Heitmueller writes: > >> The introduction of this patch makes it trivial for a third party to >> provide closed-source userland support for tuners while reusing all >> the existing GPL driver code that makes up the framework. > > Wouldn't it be just as trivial to bundle the closed-source tuner support > with this patch or a similar GPL licensed driver? This doesn't change > anything wrt closed source drivers. Yes, but adding some code into a GPL licensed code is derivative work, The end result is also covered by GPL (not only the kernelspace, but also the userspace counterpart). If some company is doing things like that and not providing the entire driver under GPL, if going to court, the judge will likely consider this as an explicitly attempt to violate the legal property of someone's else's copyright. Mauro