From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S261474AbUH0JsX (ORCPT ); Fri, 27 Aug 2004 05:48:23 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S261451AbUH0JsX (ORCPT ); Fri, 27 Aug 2004 05:48:23 -0400 Received: from jib.isi.edu ([128.9.128.193]:63108 "EHLO jib.isi.edu") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S261474AbUH0JsV (ORCPT ); Fri, 27 Aug 2004 05:48:21 -0400 Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2004 02:48:09 -0700 From: Craig Milo Rogers To: Christoph Hellwig , Linus Torvalds , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: Termination of the Philips Webcam Driver (pwc) Message-ID: <20040827094809.GL1284@isi.edu> References: <20040826233244.GA1284@isi.edu> <20040827004757.A26095@infradead.org> <20040827094346.B29407@infradead.org> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <20040827094346.B29407@infradead.org> User-Agent: Mutt/1.5.4i Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On 04.08.27, Christoph Hellwig wrote: > On Thu, Aug 26, 2004 at 05:03:42PM -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote: > > Of course if some new maintainer shows up and decides to infer how the > > device worked by looking at the original open-source code, that's also > > clearly fine. > > > > I don't want people to play lawyer. Honoring peoples rights to the code > > they write is more important than just the law. > > Umm, just because he's piised off we shouldn't removed support for hardware. > it's not like the driver suddenly stops from working because it's unmaintained. Bit rot does occur in unmaintained Linux kernel drivers; I believe I've seen it happen. More immediately, though, is that the driver suddenly stops working (in effect) for new users who can no acquire a copy of the proprietary codec module, pwcx. Without pcwx, my brand new Logitech Web cameras are likely to be seriously crippled. I didn't get a copy of pcwx before the website that distributed it shut off access. I'm seriously considering offering Nemosoft money for a licence for pwcx. Of course, I'd need seperate copies for x86 and x86_64 architectures... Economic rationality rears its ugly head: the overhead costs might be too high. Craig Milo Rogers