linux-kernel - Re: Binary Drivers

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Date:	Fri, 22 Dec 2006 16:14:41 -0600
From:	"Scott Preece" <sepreece@...il.com>
To:	"Wolfgang Draxinger" <wdraxinger@...kstargames.de>
Cc:	LKML <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>,
	"Rok Markovic" <kernel@...ardia.eu>
Subject: Re: Binary Drivers

On 12/22/06, Wolfgang Draxinger <wdraxinger@...kstargames.de> wrote:
> Am Freitag, 22. Dezember 2006 20:22 schrieb Rok Markovic:
> > Hi!
> >
> > Maybe this does not belong to this thread, but I am wondering why
> > manufactorers doesn't want to release specifications about drivers....
>
> You're not alone, I think everybody who knows, how things in a
> computer work shares this view.
---

Two of the specific arguments I've heard are (a) that the board (and
its hardware interfaces that the documentation would describe) involve
IP licensed from a third party, which the board manufacturer does not
have a legal right to disclose, or (b) that there is, in fact, no
suitable documentation, because the boards are developed somewhat
fluidly and the driver is developed directly from low-level knowledge
that simply isn't written down in a form suitable for passing on.

If you're building products with no expectation of supporting outside
driver developers, both of those are quite possible.

scott
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