Re: What exactly does "supports Linux" mean?

Neale Banks
2003-05-18T22:12:18Z

On Sun, 18 May 2003, Pavel Machek wrote:

> > > [Long time ago I got double-speed cdrom, and on its driver disk, there
> > > was C source of the driver. Porting it to linux was matter of two
> > > days, IIRC. And it had korean comments ;-)].
> >
> > Perhaps you'd be willing to help Aunt Tillie do this. Your
> > definition of "includes driver sources" will appeal to such a
> > small market segment it isn't worth the ink on the box.
>
> Sure, Aunt Tillie can pay SuSE.cz to have that driver updated to any
> kernel she wants ;-).
>
> [Really, if the card is common enough, and driver sources are
> available, they are going to be in kernel.org kernel within few weeks.]

Iff:
(1) the sources etc constitute "sufficient" documentation (e.g. poke magic
value into magic register might not help enough :-( ).
(2) the sources are not only "included" but are "freely" modifiable and
redistributable.

Regards,
Neale.