linux-kernel - Re: EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL recursive for shim and/or wrappers

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Date:	Mon, 1 Jun 2009 14:39:37 -0700
From:	Greg KH <greg@...ah.com>
To:	"Luis R. Rodriguez" <mcgrof@...il.com>
Cc:	"linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org" <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	Al Viro <viro@....linux.org.uk>, Pavel Roskin <proski@....org>,
	Aaditya.Rai@...eros.com, Prem.Kumar@...eros.com,
	Stephen.Chen@...eros.com, Rahul.Sridhar@...eros.com,
	Allen.Tsai@...eros.com
Subject: Re: EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL recursive for shim and/or wrappers

On Mon, Jun 01, 2009 at 12:41:58PM -0700, Luis R. Rodriguez wrote:
> Does EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL imply that modules which make use of these
> symbols must also use EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL for their own symbols? If so
> then it would be clear of the recursive nature of intent.

I have had a group of lawyers and law-students study this very topic a
lot in the past.  It comes down to "intent".  If you are creating a
"shim" kernel module to merely export the symbols into the "non-gpl"
namespace, the "intent" of such a piece of code is to obviously
circumvent the original "intent" of the GPL-only marking.

This argument was successfully used to cause at least one company to
stop doing this very thing.

Now if you try to explicitly document this somehow, well, I think you
fall into the old "try to explicitly define everything" problem, which
is counterproductive as people try to work around such definitions.  I
say leave it as-is, and let my lawyers have fun if anyone tries to abuse
it :)

thanks,

greg k-h
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