linux-kernel - Re: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers

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Message-ID: <17876.5566.445336.542652@notabene.brown>
Date:	Thu, 15 Feb 2007 19:11:42 +1100
From:	Neil Brown <neilb@...e.de>
To:	"Trent Waddington" <trent.waddington@...il.com>
Cc:	"v j" <vj.linux@...il.com>, "Randy Dunlap" <rdunlap@...otime.net>,
	"Dave Jones" <davej@...hat.com>, linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: GPL vs non-GPL device drivers

On Thursday February 15, trent.waddington@...il.com wrote:
> On 2/15/07, Neil Brown <neilb@...e.de> wrote:
> >  [..] then it is less clear what people believe
> 
> Another area where it is less clear what people believe is if you are
> distributing the module separately to the kernel, but, as I understand
> it, vj says he is not.
> 
> > But of course the person who's opinion really counts is the judge.
> 
> The judge's opinion only counts if you actually get to court and
> manage to put up a legal defense.
> 
> > So you need to get legal advice.
> 
> Or, ya know, you could take the moral/ethical advice that you're being
> a worm and stop now.

I don't think we do ourselves any favours by calling people names....

And as I understand it, an important principle in out community is
freedom.  If vj wants to take a particular moral/ethical stance, then
he should be free to do that.  Of course he will have to live with any
consequences, as do we all.

He (or maybe she? I don't know but English is forcing me to use
gender-specific pronouns) or his company sees a business risk in open
sourcing their code.  They now see a legal risk it not doing so.  They
get to choose how to respond.

This list is a great place to seek technical advice on the different
options.   It is not such a good place to get business or legal
advice.

NeilBrown
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