Re: People, not GPL [was: Re: Driver Model]

Geert Uytterhoeven
2003-09-13T14:18:42Z

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003, Timothy Miller wrote:
> David Schwartz wrote:
> You're stuck thinking about "law" and "rules". I'm thinking instead
> about "honor".

Indeed. The GPL may not be perfect, but IMHO the GPL is the only way to make
sure everyone plays the game according to the rules. I.e. I give you something,
you can use it, but please play according to the rules of fair play.

BSD may look OK, but it doesn't protect against people who don't (want to) play
according to the rules.

> The point of divergence is with regard to modules and the symbol
> restrictions for non-GPL drivers. Here is a gray area where the GPL may
> not apply really. These gray areas are where ethics and honor must come
> into play.

I consider binary-only modules some kind of loophole to avoid playing according
to the rules of fair play.

Unfortunately it seems to be almost impossible to design a license that forces
you to play according to the rules of fair play, and doesn't have any
loopholes or grey areas.

Gr{oetje,eeting}s,

Geert

--
Geert Uytterhoeven -- There's lots of Linux beyond ia32 -- geert@linux-m68k.org

In personal conversations with technical people, I call myself a hacker. But
when I'm talking to journalists I just say "programmer" or something like that.
-- Linus Torvalds