From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S964802AbWHQLEv (ORCPT ); Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:04:51 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S964803AbWHQLEv (ORCPT ); Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:04:51 -0400 Received: from outpipe-village-512-1.bc.nu ([81.2.110.250]:23271 "EHLO lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S964802AbWHQLEu (ORCPT ); Thu, 17 Aug 2006 07:04:50 -0400 Subject: Re: GPL Violation? From: Alan Cox To: Patrick McFarland Cc: Stefan Richter , Anonymous User , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <200608170536.44733.diablod3@gmail.com> References: <40d80630608162248y498cb970r97a14c582fd663e1@mail.gmail.com> <200608170242.40969.diablod3@gmail.com> <44E429B3.7030607@s5r6.in-berlin.de> <200608170536.44733.diablod3@gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Date: Thu, 17 Aug 2006 12:25:36 +0100 Message-Id: <1155813936.15195.57.camel@localhost.localdomain> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.6.2 (2.6.2-1.fc5.5) Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Ar Iau, 2006-08-17 am 05:36 -0400, ysgrifennodd Patrick McFarland: > > If a driver author doesn't want > > to publish under the terms of GPL, an implementation in userspace may > > make it possible to avoid linking with GPL code. > > But doesn't that force the GPL code to rely on closed source code, and not > function properly without it? I remember a part in the GPL about not allowing > that, but I can't seem to find it atm. It shouldn't generally be a grey area but that is why the Linux kernel has always had this clarification in COPYING about the interpretation NOTE! This copyright does *not* cover user programs that use kernel services by normal system calls - this is merely considered normal use of the kernel, and does *not* fall under the heading of "derived work". Also note that the GPL below is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, but the instance of code that it refers to (the Linux kernel) is copyrighted by me and others who actually wrote it.