Al Viro wrote:
>
> On Sun, Jun 17, 2007 at 12:31:00AM -0300, Alexandre Oliva wrote:
>
> > I'm not trying to say why Linus and others chose the GPLv2.
> >
> > I'm not trying to determine what their motivations were.
> >
> > I'm not trying to force them to change to GPLv3.
> >
> > I'm not trying to convince them that tivozation is a bad thing.
> >
> > I'm only trying to show that anti-tivozation is in line with the
> > spirit of the GPL.
>
> .. and anti-tivoization section shows all symptoms of going in wrong
> direction, *whether* *tivo* *is* *good* *or* *not*. It's full of
> kludges exactly because it tries to carve out a notion that can only
> be determined on case-to-case basis and not by generic definition.
> And no, that's not a matter of bad wording in that section.
>
> I don't _care_ whether it breaks spirit, etc. - it's a fundamentally bad
> idea for completely independent reasons. Even if one thinks that tivo
> in particular ought to be sued into the ground at some point.
>
> Besides, it's fscking *pointless* for userland stuff. If you insist that
> e.g. glibc will infect by linking, you've just created a huge problem for
> any GPLv2 userland code, which will make all bad blood about kernel look
> trivial in comparison. If you do not, then you've lost all leverage anyway;
> kernel won't switch, libraries are OK, toolchain is obviously OK for building
> code with any license... what's left? The glorious /bin/cp? Sorry, it would
> work as usual, subject to open(2) not returning EACCES. Just as on any
> system. Just what is it going to prevent? Hell, they can slap selinux on
> the box, protect what they want to protect, use crypto-loop to prevent offline
> modifications of filesystem and hide the key in firmware.
>
> Either GPLv2 is sufficient in given case (and e.g. Alan decides to go
> after company in question), or you've at most created a moderate amount
> of work rewriting the checks they are doing into a different form (if
> that). Good job. In the meanwhile, you've got a load of ill-defined
> verbiage around installation instructions. I.e. a lovely fodder for
> potential abusers.
>
> Sod it. GPLv3, with your involvement in its development or not, sucks
> rocks, thanks to what you call anti-tivoization section.
>
> --
> How many GPL spirits can dance on the end of a pin?
regards,
alexander.
--
"Live cheaply," he said, offering some free advice. "Don't buy a house,
a car or have children. The problem is they're expensive and you have
to spend all your time making money to pay for them."
-- Free Software Foundation's Richard Stallman: 'Live Cheaply'
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