Re: Tainted Modules Help Notices

David Schwartz
2001-10-12T01:12:02Z

>URLs go bad and non-responsive regularly,,,
>john

Yes, but modules that have available source code don't often morph into
modules that don't. The desired information is whether or not the source code
is easily available for debugging.

Perhaps the best solution is to develop a 'kernel module license' that
simply requires that the source code be made available to anyone who wishes
to debug for the purpose of debugging. Complying with the terms of the
'kernel module license' would give you module that don't taint the kernel.

The license would be liberal in that it would allow you to impose a wide
array of other licensing terms that didn't interfere with debugging. Though
NDA requirements or any form of explicit contract to obtain the source
wouldn't be allowed.

This license wouldn't be compatible with the GPL since it would be
considered an additional restriction - the GPL doesn't require you to make
source code available to anyone who wants it and this license would require
you to do so. It would, however, be compatible with the BSD license. BSD
licenses shouldn't automatically cause no tainting of the kernel because the
BSD license doesn't assure that the source code will be available.

Because this really isn't a copyright enforcement scheme, it's not clear (at
least to me) how using the tag falsely would be a DMCA violation. However, if
the tag were copyrighted, displaying it falsely would be a violation of
several laws (including simple fraud).

DS