linux-kernel - Re: [PATCH 0/2] module: Block modules by Tuxedo from accessing GPL symbols

lists.openwall.net		lists / announce owl-users owl-dev john-users john-dev passwdqc-users yescrypt popa3d-users / oss-security kernel-hardening musl sabotage tlsify passwords / crypt-dev xvendor / Bugtraq Full-Disclosure linux-kernel linux-netdev linux-ext4 linux-hardening linux-cve-announce PHC
Open Source and information security mailing list archives

Hash Suite for Android: free password hash cracker in your pocket

[<prev] [next>] [<thread-prev] [thread-next>] [day] [month] [year] [list]

Message-ID: <e32e9f5c-3841-41f7-9728-f998f123cc8a@tuxedocomputers.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2024 11:49:04 +0100
From: Werner Sembach <wse@...edocomputers.com>
To: Uwe Kleine-König <ukleinek@...nel.org>,
 Luis Chamberlain <mcgrof@...nel.org>
Cc: tux@...edocomputers.com, Petr Pavlu <petr.pavlu@...e.com>,
 Sami Tolvanen <samitolvanen@...gle.com>, Daniel Gomez
 <da.gomez@...sung.com>, linux-modules@...r.kernel.org,
 linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org, Thorsten Leemhuis <linux@...mhuis.info>
Subject: Re: [PATCH 0/2] module: Block modules by Tuxedo from accessing GPL
 symbols

Hello,

Am 14.11.24 um 11:31 schrieb Uwe Kleine-König:
> Hello,
>
> the kernel modules provided by Tuxedo on
> https://gitlab.com/tuxedocomputers/development/packages/tuxedo-drivers
> are licensed under GPLv3 or later. This is incompatible with the
> kernel's license and so makes it impossible for distributions and other
> third parties to support these at least in pre-compiled form and so
> limits user experience and the possibilities to work on mainlining these
> drivers.
>
> This incompatibility is created on purpose to control the upstream
> process. See https://fosstodon.org/@kernellogger/113423314337991594 for
> a nice summary of the situation and some further links about the issue.
>
> Note that the pull request that fixed the MODULE_LICENSE invocations to
> stop claiming GPL(v2) compatibility was accepted and then immediately
> reverted "for the time being until the legal stuff is sorted out"
> (https://gitlab.com/tuxedocomputers/development/packages/tuxedo-drivers/-/commit/a8c09b6c2ce6393fe39d8652d133af9f06cfb427).

As already being implied by that commit message, this is sadly not an issue that 
can be sorted out over night.

We ended up in this situation as MODULE_LICENSE("GPL") on its own does not hint 
at GPL v2, if one is not aware of the license definition table in the documentation.

It was and is never our intention to violate neither GPL v2 nor GPL v3 and we 
are working on it.

Kind regards,

Werner Sembach

>
> Best regards
> Uwe
>
> Uwe Kleine-König (2):
>    module: Put known GPL offenders in an array
>    module: Block modules by Tuxedo from accessing GPL symbols
>
>   kernel/module/main.c | 56 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++-------
>   1 file changed, 47 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
>
> base-commit: 28955f4fa2823e39f1ecfb3a37a364563527afbc