Re: MODULE_LICENSE and EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL

Arjan van de Ven
2001-10-18T15:17:04Z

> Exported interfaces are "methods of operation" in the sense of US
> Copyright Law. Copyright Law affords no protection to "methods of
> operation". The GPL, which gains its strength from Copyright Law, also
> has no rights in this area. If a GPLed module does not want other code
> using its interfaces, they should not be exported.

I think you're missing one thing: binary only modules are only allowed
because of an exception license grant Linus made for functions that are
marked EXPORT_SYMBOL(). EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL() just says "not part of this
exception grant"....