linux-kernel - Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

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Date:	Tue, 19 Jun 2007 19:28:22 +0400
From:	Manu Abraham <abraham.manu@...il.com>
To:	Lennart Sorensen <lsorense@...lub.uwaterloo.ca>
CC:	Alexandre Oliva <aoliva@...hat.com>,
	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...ux-foundation.org>,
	Greg KH <greg@...ah.com>,
	debian developer <debiandev@...il.com>,
	"david@...g.hm" <david@...g.hm>,
	Tarkan Erimer <tarkan@...one.net.tr>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org,
	Andrew Morton <akpm@...ux-foundation.org>, mingo@...e.hu
Subject: Re: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3

Lennart Sorensen wrote:

> Well much as I don't like what Tivo did with only allowing signed
> kernels to run, I don't see anything in the above that says they can't

Well, it is not Tivo alone -- look at http://aminocom.com/ for an
example. If you want the kernel sources pay USD 50k and we will provide
the kernel sources, was their attitude.

> do that.  They let you have the code and make changes to it, they just
> don't let you put that changed stuff on the device they build.  The
> software is free, even though the hardware is locked down.  The GPL v3
> really seems to change the spirit to try and cover usage and hardware
> behaviour, while the spirit of the GPL v2 seemed to me at least to
> simply be to allow people to copy and change and use the code, and pass
> that on to people.  It didn't have anything to do with what they did
> with it on hardware.  Nothing prevents you from taking tivos kernel
> changes and building your own hardware to run that code on, and as such
> the spirit of the GPL v2 seems fulfilled.  It covers freedom of the
> source code and resulting binaries, not of the platform you run it on.
> The GPL v3 has a much broader coverage of what it wants to control,
> which to me means the spirit is different.
> 
> I don't have a tivo, I use mythtv on my own PC.  Tivo doesn't force you
> to buy their hardware after all.

Well, it is not Tivo alone, a large chunk of the vendors do that. The
vendors who actually do it the clean way are just few and can be counted
very easily.

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