RE: Linux GPL and binary module exception clause?

Hua Zhong
2003-12-10T17:17:31Z

> The inlines have nothing to do with _anything_.
>
> Trust me, a federal judge couldn't care less about some very esoteric
> technical detail. I don't know who brought up inline
> functions, but they aren't what would force the GPL.

Great!

> What has meaning for "derived work" is whether it stands on its own or
> not, and how tightly integrated it is. If something works
> with just one particular version of the kernel - or depends on things
like
> whether the kernel was compiled with certain options etc - then it
pretty
> clearly is very tightly integrated.

Many userspace programs fall into this category too. For example they
depend on /proc to be there. They probably only work with a certain
version of the kernel because the next version changed some format in
/proc.

Is /proc a stable API/ABI? Yes? No?

> Don't think that copyright would depend on any technicalities.
>
> Linus
> -
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