Re: ndiswrapper and GPL-only symbols redux

Måns Rullgård
2008-01-30T01:09:53Z

Adrian Bunk <bunk@kernel.org> writes:

> On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 11:25:22PM +0000, Måns Rullgård wrote:
>> Adrian Bunk <bunk@kernel.org> writes:
>>
>> > On Tue, Jan 29, 2008 at 04:22:45PM -0500, Pavel Roskin wrote:
>> >> Hello!
>> >>
>> >> It have come to my attention that a patch has been committed to the
>> >> kernel with the explicit purpose of tainting ndiswrapper - the kernel
>> >> module allowing Windows NDIS drivers for Ethernet and Wireless cards to
>> >> be used by the kernel.
>> >>...
>> >> Just to reiterate some points from the old discussion:
>> >>...
>> >> - no copyright violation is involved, as Windows drivers are not derived
>> >> from Linux sources
>> >>...
>> >
>> > It is interesting that someone posting with an @gnu.org address claims
>> > that dynamic linking of not GPLv2 compatible code into GPLv2 code was
>> > not a copyright violation.
>>
>> As long as you don't distribute /proc/kcore, I can't see how the GPL
>> would have any say in the matter. The Windows drivers are (unrelated
>> violations aside) clearly not derived from GPL code.
>
> Someone might sell a laptop with Linux installed?

Not a problem, unless it is booted when sold. Even that might not be
a problem, since it would be a matter of transferring ownership of a
single copy, not creating and distributing new copies, and the GPL
does is only concerned with the latter.

--
Måns Rullgård
mans@mansr.com