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

[Timothy Miller <miller@techsource.com>]

I'm still 1600 messages behind in reading the list, but I have spent 
enough time reading the discussion about GPL and drivers that I feel 
compelled to comment.  I don't intend to comment further because I don't 
want to contribute to a flamewar any more than this already will.  But I 
feel the need to defend those who contribute to Free Software against 
those who don't.

The argument I have been reading has been centered around the idea of 
working around the GPL to support binary-only driver and various other 
things which are counter to the spirit of the GPL and Linux.  But 
someone who is trying to find a legal GPL loophole is not considering 
the root of the situation and that the GPL is an effect, not a cause.

A point someone else made that I feel compelled to reiterate is that it 
is the nature of the Linux development model and the attitude of the 
developers which has made Linux what it is and has made you want to use it.

But I have another point.  You are not dealing with a license here.  The 
license is there to satisfy lawyers and make clear the INTENT of the 
authors.  The keyword here is INTENT in that someone who has developed 
something is telling you how they feel about the use of their work 
which, under many circumstances, they could have chosen not to share 
with you.  What you are dealing with is real people who have put an 
incredible amount of time and effort into developing Linux.  Those 
people, to whom you owe much respect for sharing their contributions, 
have decided that their software should be used with certain 
restrictions, that being the GPL.  If you abuse Linux, it is not the GPL 
that you are insulting, but the people who developed Linux.

The GPL_ONLY restriction for driver modules may seem unfair, but it is 
far from it.  There are both valid technical and philosophical reasons 
for working that way.  No one forces you to use Linux, and when you made 
the choice to use it, you are entering into a community with a specific 
philosophy.  You know that philosophy in advance, so when you discover 
that you have a restruction you don't like, you have no room to complain.

As someone said, if you want to write drivers for a UNIX which does not 
have these restrictions, there are plenty of commercial UNIXes out there 
that you have to choose from.  The fact that they are perhaps less 
popular is one reason why Linux developers do not want to imitate them.

So, the discussions about finding ways to make a non-GPL driver look 
like a GPL driver and get away with it legally are all moot.  The reason 
you should not violate this is because the architects of Linux do not 
want you to.  If you choose to violate that, you are being unethical, 
pure and simple.  Or more to the point, you're being an asshole to a lot 
of hard-working people who have chosen to freely share their work with 
you.  Since they are the authors and you are not, their feelings about 
their softare are more important than yours.  You may be able to screw 
them over and get away with it -- people do that sort of thing all the 
time -- but the fact that you may find a legal loophole doesn't make you 
any less of an abject asshole.

In short:  Be honorable.