Please open sysfs symbols to proprietary modules

[Pavel Roskin <proski@gnu.org>]

Hello!

I'm writing a module under a proprietary license.  I decided to use sysfs 
to do the configuration.  Unfortunately, all sysfs exports are available 
to GPL modules only because they are exported by EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL.

I have found the original e-mail where this change was proposed:
http://www.ussg.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0409.3/0345.html

Patrick writes:

"The users of these functions are all, in most cases, other subsystems, 
which provide a layer of abstraction for the downstream users (drivers, 
etc)."

Maybe it was true in September 2004, but it's not true in February 2005. 
sysfs has become a standard way to make configurable parameters available 
to userspace, just like sysctl and ioctl.

All I want to do is to have a module that would create subdirectories for 
some network interfaces under /sys/class/net/*/, which would contain 
additional parameters for those interfaces.  I'm not creating a new 
subsystem or anything like that.  sysctl is not good because the data is 
interface specific.  ioctl on a socket would be OK, although it wouldn't 
be easily scriptable.  The restriction on sysfs symbols would just force 
me to write a proprietary userspace utility to set those parameters 
instead of using a shell script.

My understanding is that EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL is only useful for symbols so 
specific to the kernel that the modules that use them would be effectively 
based on GPL code.  But a module providing its internal state to the 
userspace doesn't need to be based on the kernel code in any way.

Please replace every EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL with EXPORT_SYMBOL in fs/sysfs/*.c

-- 
Regards,
Pavel Roskin