Re: [future of drivers?] a proposal for binary drivers.

Hannu Savolainen
2006-03-08T21:54:59Z

On Wed, 8 Mar 2006, Dave Neuer wrote:

> What is linux-specific in this context is that many people, like
> myself, who have contributed code to the kernel under the GPL *don't
> want* their code to be used in non-free software, period. Someone who
> wants to leverage my work needs to do it under the terms that I allow.
> That is the law. Whining is not going to change my mind.
>
> If a company thinks they can make money selling hardware with
> closed-source drivers (on some other OS), more power to them. If a
> company thinks they can make money selling hardware with open-source
> drivers on Linux and want to leverage my work, more power to them
> (I'll even help them). But they can't use my work and not release the
> code.
You are mixing two different things. Binary driver is not the same thing
as binary-only driver. Being binary means just that the driver is
distributed as a precompiled module. However the driver may still be open
sourced (under GPL or whatever license you like). The full source
code may be shipped with the installable binary or be distributed in some
other way for users who want to compile it themselves.

In fact all Linux distributions ship binary drivers. The user can install
the kernel/driver sources but most "ordinary" users don't install them.

Best regards,

Hannu
-----
Hannu Savolainen (hannu@opensound.com)
http://www.opensound.com (Open Sound System (OSS))
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