From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id ; Fri, 8 Jun 2001 18:54:59 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id ; Fri, 8 Jun 2001 18:54:48 -0400 Received: from saturn.cs.uml.edu ([129.63.8.2]:46095 "EHLO saturn.cs.uml.edu") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id ; Fri, 8 Jun 2001 18:54:39 -0400 From: "Albert D. Cahalan" Message-Id: <200106082254.f58MsWE487361@saturn.cs.uml.edu> Subject: Re: [PATCH] sockreg2.4.5-05 inet[6]_create() register/unregister table To: hps@intermeta.de Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2001 18:54:32 -0400 (EDT) Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: <9fq2ce$gkb$1@forge.intermeta.de> from "Henning P. Schmiedehausen" at Jun 08, 2001 08:29:02 AM X-Mailer: ELM [version 2.5 PL2] MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Henning P. Schmied writes: > Alan Cox writes: >> So it comes down to the question of whether the module is linking >> (which is about dependancies and requirements) and what the legal >> scope is. Which is a matter for lawyers. > > And this would void DaveMs' argument, that only the "official in > Linus' kernel published interface is allowed for binary modules". This > would mean, that putting the posted, unofficial patch under GPL into > the kernel and then using this interface for a binary module is just > the same as using only the official ABI from a lawyers' point of > view! > > This would make DaveMs' position even less understandable, because > there would be no difference for a proprietary vendor but keeping the > patch out of the kernel makes life harder for people like the original > poster that want to test new (open sourced) protocols like SCTP. Yep. Consider a chunk of x86 instructions using a home-grown OS abstraction layer, and drivers that implement that layer for both Linux and any non-GPL operating system. The binary blob is obviously not derived from Linux, and may in fact run without modification in a BSD or Solaris/x86 kernel. There is in fact just such a layer. It might not currently have the features needed to implement TCP, but it could be extended as needed.