On Thu, 26 Aug 2004, Craig Milo Rogers wrote:
> On 04.08.26, Greg KH wrote:
> > Greg Kroah-Hartman:
> > o USB: rip out the whole pwc driver as the author wishes to have done
> > o USB: rip the pwc decompressor hooks out of the kernel, as they are a GPL
> > violation
>
> The decompressor hooks may be a Linux kernel policy violation,
> but I challenge your contention that they are a GPL violation.
Doesn't matter. Whether they are a GPL violation is a gray area. They were
removed because of a policy. The author then complained, and the _driver_
was removed for that reason.
At no point was it a legal argument. In fact, since none of the people
involved were layers, you shouldn't even try to _make_ it a legal
arguments.
You do legal arguments in front of a judge. Until you reach that point,
you do what's right. And I think Greg did what is right.
Now, we can whine all we like about the author being childish, or about
the fact that since it was GPL'd, the hooks can clearly legally be removed
regardless of his wishes. That's not what this is all about. There are
more important things involved.
I repeat: if somebody wants to step up as maintainer, I would certainly be
more than happy to have a pwc driver, and I bet Greg would be too. But you
don't just take somebody elses code against his wishes - regardless of
whether you have the "legal right" or not.
Let's put it this way: if you need to ask a lawyer whether what you do is
"right" or not, you are morally corrupt. Let's not go there. We don't base
our morality on law.
Linus
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