From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S263866AbTLJSIn (ORCPT ); Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:08:43 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S263876AbTLJSIn (ORCPT ); Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:08:43 -0500 Received: from ipcop.bitmover.com ([192.132.92.15]:13237 "EHLO work.bitmover.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S263866AbTLJSIg (ORCPT ); Wed, 10 Dec 2003 13:08:36 -0500 Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 10:08:22 -0800 From: Larry McVoy To: Linus Torvalds Cc: Larry McVoy , Andre Hedrick , Arjan van de Ven , Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu, Kendall Bennett , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Linux GPL and binary module exception clause? Message-ID: <20031210180822.GI6896@work.bitmover.com> Mail-Followup-To: Larry McVoy , Linus Torvalds , Larry McVoy , Andre Hedrick , Arjan van de Ven , Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu, Kendall Bennett , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org References: <20031210153254.GC6896@work.bitmover.com> <20031210163425.GF6896@work.bitmover.com> <20031210175614.GH6896@work.bitmover.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: User-Agent: Mutt/1.4i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Wed, Dec 10, 2003 at 10:02:47AM -0800, Linus Torvalds wrote: > > On Wed, 10 Dec 2003, Larry McVoy wrote: > > > > I see. And your argument, had it prevailed 5 years ago, would have > > invalidated the following, would it not? The following from one of the > > Microsoft lawsuits. > > No it wouldn't. And in the 4 minutes since I've posted that legal doc you have consulted a lawyer and the lawyer told you this, right? > Microsoft very much _has_ a binary API to their drivers, in a way that > Linux doesn't. Technicality. Which, by your own reasoning, doesn't count. Linux does indeed have a binary interface, many people download drivers from some website (I've done it a pile of times) and stuck them in and they worked. I did that with the modem on my thinkpad across more than 10 kernel versions in the 2.2 or 2.4 timeframe. > So there is no analogy to the Linux case. In Linux, no fixed binary API > exists, and the way normal drivers are distributed are as GPL'd source > code. Nonsense. More distribution happens through ISO images than anything else and the ISO images people download don't contain the source. They *could* download the source ones but they don't. They download the binary image, burn it, and install it. And pass it around. If the *only* way you could get Linux was in source form and you had to build your own kernel, then you'd have an argument. But that's not true and there are plenty of examples of drivers being available for download for Linux in binary form. -- --- Larry McVoy lm at bitmover.com http://www.bitmover.com/lm