Re: [PATCH 2.6.25] module: allow ndiswrapper to use GPL-only symbols

Pavel Roskin
2008-02-29T21:14:01Z

On Fri, 2008-02-29 at 12:28 -0800, Linus Torvalds wrote:
>
> On Fri, 29 Feb 2008, Pavel Roskin wrote:
> >
> > This still leaves us with the workqueue interface:
> >
> > __create_workqueue_key
> > destroy_workqueue
> > flush_workqueue
> > queue_work
>
> Hmm. Personally, I don't see those as being a big issue, but they've been
> marked GPL-only for a long while.
>
> The thing is, I personally don't mind, and I think "derived code" is what
> matters, but others disagree, and quite frankly, I'm not going to force
> them - I have my _personal_ beliefs, but hey, others have theirs.
>
> So you really need to talk to not me, but to the people who actually wrote
> and maintain that code.

As far as I can tell, those people have never tried to prevent
ndiswrapper from using their code. Both times ndiswrapper was prevented
from using GPLONLY symbols, it was done unintentionally.

> When they come back and say "yeah, we think
> ndiswrapper is a special case and we're ok with it", I'll happily either
> mark those things non-GPL or just mark ndiswrapper special in the module
> loader again.

OK, I'll keep it in mind in case such approach actually becomes
necessary.

--
Regards,
Pavel Roskin