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From: Alexander Fisher <alexjfisher@gmail.com>
To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Would I be violating the GPL?
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2005 17:49:03 +0000	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <5449aac20511010949x5d96c7e0meee4d76a67a06c01@mail.gmail.com> (raw)

Hello.

A supplier of a PCI mezzanine digital IO card has provided a linux 2.4
driver as source code.  They have provided this code source with a
license stating I won't redistribute it in anyway.
My concern is that if I build this code into a module, I won't be able
to distribute it to customers without violating either the GPL (by not
distributing the source code), or the proprietary source code license
as currently imposed by the supplier.
>From what I have read, this concern is only valid if the binary module
is considered to be a 'derived work' of the kernel.  The module source
directly includes the following kernel headers :

#include <linux/kernel.h>
#include <linux/types.h>
#include <linux/fs.h>
#include <linux/errno.h>
#include <linux/wrapper.h>
#include <linux/module.h>
#include <linux/iobuf.h>
#include <linux/highmem.h>
#include <asm/uaccess.h>
#include <linux/mm.h>
#include <asm/unistd.h>

Does this make the compiled module a derived work?  Are the 'static
inlines' from the headers substantial enough?

I really want to have a clear understanding of the issues before
contacting the supplier.  Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Kind regards,
Alex

             reply	other threads:[~2005-11-01 17:49 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 35+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2005-11-01 17:49 Alexander Fisher [this message]
2005-11-01 16:43 ` Jeff V. Merkey
2005-11-01 19:15   ` Alistair John Strachan
2005-11-16 15:26     ` David Schwartz
2005-11-16 16:39       ` Jeffrey V. Merkey
2005-11-01 20:32   ` Rob Landley
2005-11-01 20:46   ` Arjan van de Ven
2005-11-01 19:00 ` Michael Buesch
2005-11-01 17:44   ` Jeff V. Merkey
2005-11-01 19:12     ` Michael Buesch
2005-11-01 20:46       ` Alexander Fisher
2005-11-01 21:06         ` linux-os (Dick Johnson)
2005-11-02  9:49         ` Giuliano Pochini
2005-11-02 14:54           ` Alex Lyashkov
2005-11-02 15:29             ` Nix
2005-11-02 15:42               ` Alex Lyashkov
2005-11-02 16:16               ` linux-os (Dick Johnson)
2005-11-02 17:26                 ` Nix
2005-11-02 15:55             ` Giuliano Pochini
2005-11-10 19:02           ` Jan Engelhardt
2005-11-10 19:12             ` Lennart Sorensen
2005-11-17 21:23               ` Jan Engelhardt
2005-11-18 15:19                 ` Lennart Sorensen
2005-11-18 15:25                   ` Jan Engelhardt
2005-11-18 21:55                   ` Petr Vandrovec
2005-11-01 22:04     ` Rob Landley
2005-11-01 19:58   ` Lee Revell
2005-11-01 20:30     ` Jeff V. Merkey
2005-11-01 20:57     ` Alexander Fisher
2005-11-02 16:12 ` Stuart MacDonald
2005-11-03 12:44 ` Alan Cox
2005-11-02 22:21 linux
2005-11-02 22:47 ` linux-os (Dick Johnson)
2005-11-03  3:50 ` Rob Landley
2005-11-04  0:57   ` Horst von Brand

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