linux-kernel - Re: Binary Drivers

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Date:	Mon, 25 Dec 2006 01:30:41 +0100 (MET)
From:	Wolfgang Draxinger <wdraxinger@...kstargames.de>
To:	"Linux-Kernel@...r. Kernel. Org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Cc:	"Horst H. von Brand" <vonbrand@....utfsm.cl>
Subject: Re: Binary Drivers

Am Sonntag, 24. Dezember 2006 21:20 schrieb Horst H. von Brand:

> It is done regularly. Current cars control the fuel injection etc
> via an onboard computer, without this control the engine just won't
> start. Did you get the specs for the exact fuel control algorithm
> with your car? Should you be able to fool around with that, thus
> violating emission control measures (this would damage not only
> you, but everybody)?

You won't get access to the software source code, but the car 
manufactors are required to document and publish the interfaces to 
their hardware, so that also independent car workshops are able to do 
maintenance and repair on it.

You have ever heared of chip tuning? Chip tuning is a replacement of 
the original firmware with a 3rd party one, that will give higher 
power and torque.

So your gave a perfect example from another industry, where the specs 
are actually published.

Again: We don't want the original drivers being open sourced. All we 
want is access to the hardware interface documentation, so that we 
can develop our very own drivers. And heck: With a custom driver for 
some RAID controller or a graphics card you will hardly violate any 
regulations.

There might be issues with radio hardware, but surprisingly the 
drivers for the good stuff (i.e. not those cheapo cards with lousy 
range and throughput) are open source (Prism/HostAP).

I'd even say, that selling hardware without giving documentation is 
illegal also from a competitions law point of view. By supplying a 
driver only for a small range of operating systems you, as the 
factual owner of a piece of hardware are hindered to use it in the 
way you like, e.g. use it with the homebrew operating system you 
wrote (or a finnish student wrote in 1991 ;-)). Thus the HW 
manufactor delivering drivers only for a small range of operating 
systems can be assumed to distort the market by biasing one specific 
operting system manufactor _and_ hardware manufactors. Remember, that 
many binary only drivers for Linux are only avaliable for the x86 
variant. Only few are also avaliable for x86_64 (AMD64), even fewer 
for IA64 and for other architectures it's getting homeopathic. This 
is IMHO a extreme distortion of the free market.

Happy holydays

Wolfgang Draxinger

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