RE: Linux GPL and binary module exception clause?

Hua Zhong
2003-12-05T05:26:55Z

> Here's the part where people's eyes glaze over:
>
> % cd /usr/src/linux-2.6.0-test10-mm1
> % find include -name '*.h' | xargs egrep 'static.*inline' | wc -l
> 6288
>
> That's 6,288 chances for you to #include GPL code and end up
> with executable derived from it in *your* .o file, not the kernel's.

What's so fundamentally different about inline functions, or, IOW, a
finer format of macros?

It doesn't matter if the API is inline or not. What matters is if using
this API makes your program a derivative work. From this perspective,
it's just an interface, no matter how it's implemented.

Let's be frank: how many people really try to read the header file when
they use these APIs? They don't care if they are inlined or not. To them
they are just _APIs_.