From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: from protonic.prtnl (protonic.xs4all.nl [213.84.116.84]) by ozlabs.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id DC88667B21 for ; Mon, 20 Jun 2005 20:38:24 +1000 (EST) Received: from linux.local (linux.prtnl [192.168.1.97]) by protonic.prtnl (Postfix) with ESMTP id E91324044 for ; Mon, 20 Jun 2005 12:38:33 +0200 (CEST) From: David Jander To: linuxppc-embedded@ozlabs.org Date: Mon, 20 Jun 2005 12:38:18 +0200 References: <20050617191231.B23C0C1510@atlas.denx.de> In-Reply-To: <20050617191231.B23C0C1510@atlas.denx.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Message-Id: <200506201238.19121.david.jander@protonic.nl> Subject: Re: problems on isp1362 driver List-Id: Linux on Embedded PowerPC Developers Mail List List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , On Friday 17 June 2005 21:12, Wolfgang Denk wrote: > in message <000001c57347$04a45d00$07070a0a@luj> you wrote: > > We are using Philips ISP1362 usb controller on our ppc-embedded system. > > We have ported the phlips's driver, PHCI, to ppc. The Philips linux > > driver is that of 2002. > > You cannot do that. The Philips driver comes uner a proprietary > license which is incompatible with the GPL. You must not use their > driver in the context of a Linux kernel or any other GPLed software. > You are either violating the GPL, or the Philips license. Be > careful!!! IANAL, but I think theoretically at least, it should be possible, if you manage to craft sort of a "GPL abstraction layer" around the philips driver, to shield it from "GPL influence" in the kernel, just like Nvidia and others do. To the letter of the GPL that is not possible, but AFAIK the linux kernel license grants an exception that permits binary-only drivers for instance. Anyway, it probably is a bad and dangerous idea to try to pull this off. As for me, I decided it is much safer to stay as far away as possible from the philips source. Looking at it could be fatal for an OSS-coder like me (my eyes could get poisoned). Here goes a big "BOOOO" to Philips for doing this in the first place :-( Greetings, -- David Jander