From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S263893AbTLJTra (ORCPT ); Wed, 10 Dec 2003 14:47:30 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S263904AbTLJTra (ORCPT ); Wed, 10 Dec 2003 14:47:30 -0500 Received: from mail.scitechsoft.com ([63.195.13.67]:37569 "EHLO mail.scitechsoft.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S263893AbTLJTr2 (ORCPT ); Wed, 10 Dec 2003 14:47:28 -0500 From: "Kendall Bennett" Organization: SciTech Software, Inc. To: Linus Torvalds Date: Wed, 10 Dec 2003 11:48:45 -0800 MIME-Version: 1.0 Subject: Re: Linux GPL and binary module exception clause? CC: Larry McVoy , Andre Hedrick , Arjan van de Ven , Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Message-ID: <3FD7081D.26876.61FCF97A@localhost> References: <20031210163425.GF6896@work.bitmover.com> In-reply-to: X-mailer: Pegasus Mail for Windows (v4.02) Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT Content-description: Mail message body Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Linus Torvalds wrote: > Just imagine: distributing a compiled binary-only kernel module > that can be loaded into the kernel is not like distributing a new > book: it's more like distributing a extra chapter to a book that > somebody else wrote, that uses all the same characters and the > plot, but more importantly it literally can only be read _together_ > with the original work. It doesn't stand alone. So what if the chapter you wrote was generic enough that it *could* be used for different books? Maybe it couldn't be read alone (at least not with a small book the link the chapters to make logical sense), but it could be read as a whole along with lots of book. In that case you would believe such a book would not be a derivative work, correct? Regards, --- Kendall Bennett Chief Executive Officer SciTech Software, Inc. Phone: (530) 894 8400 http://www.scitechsoft.com ~ SciTech SNAP - The future of device driver technology! ~