On Tue, 2006-01-24 at 03:15 +0200, Sergei Steshenko wrote: > " > The Linux developers DO NOT WANT to make it possible to write closed > source drivers. Many consider it a violation of the GPL. > " > > - GPL allows to run commercial closed source programs under a > GPL'ed OS. That is, it doesn't prohibit this. > > SYNOPSYS and Cadence VLSI-related tools are a few examples, though, > as far as SYNOPSYS is concerned, only 2.4.* (and NOT 2.6.*) kernels > are supported because the former are considered to have stable API. > > Likewise, closed source drivers can be implemented as separate > processes not linked to GPL kernel an thus not violating GPL. >
If Linux allowed drivers to be implemented in userspace you would be correct, but currently drivers must be linked into the kernel so the GPL applies to all driver code. In fact the solution that the kernel developers have proposed is to develop the infrastructure to run drivers in userspace so that Nvidia for example can keep the sensitive IP in their driver private and comply with the GPL. So basically it's a technical problem not a political one. Some work has been done on a userspace driver infrastructure but it's not usable yet. Lee ------------------------------------------------------- This SF.net email is sponsored by: Splunk Inc. Do you grep through log files for problems? Stop! Download the new AJAX search engine that makes searching your log files as easy as surfing the web. DOWNLOAD SPLUNK! http://sel.as-us.falkag.net/sel?cmd=lnk&kid=103432&bid=230486&dat=121642 _______________________________________________ Alsa-user mailing list Alsa-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/alsa-user
