linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 2/3] UIO: Documentation

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Message-ID: <20070809150942.2663498d@the-village.bc.nu>
Date:	Thu, 9 Aug 2007 15:09:42 +0100
From:	Alan Cox <alan@...rguk.ukuu.org.uk>
To:	Hans-Jürgen Koch <hjk@...utronix.de>
Cc:	Valdis.Kletnieks@...edu, Jesper Juhl <jesper.juhl@...il.com>,
	Greg Kroah-Hartman <gregkh@...e.de>,
	linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 2/3] UIO: Documentation

O> I disagree. UIO is a documented kernel<->userspace interface, like sysfs
> or proc. Using your argument, we would also have to say that a userspace
> software that is unusable without sysfs is a derived work of the kernel.
> But IANAL, tell me if I missed an important point.

It depends how closely the bits are tied. As far as I can ascertain there
is no simple yes/no answer and whether you can do so depends a great deal
upon how tightly bound the two are (consider the difference between the
intel ipw daemon which is integrated very tightly into the old ipw3945
driver and  a script monitoring CPU temperature via a sysfs file)

> > so the 
> > documentation is giving poor advice however
> 
> I guess you mean this sentence:
> 
> "if you need to keep some parts of your driver closed source, you can do so 
> without violating the GPL license on the kernel."
> 
> What would you write instead?

I would simply remove the statement. Leave it to the lawyers.

Alan
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