[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > >I'd be more worried if I were the author of such a module. I don't > >see how you could develop a kernel module for Linux that isn't > >considered to be "based on" the GPLv2 kernel itself and thus forced to > >be released as source to anyone who receives the binaries. > > If you don't distribute the GPL'ed kernel with the module, then I > think it would be a stretch for copyright law to extend to your > code. Patents could do that, copyright cannot.
GPL is neither. It's a license -- a contract. If you violate its terms, then you're in violation of the contract itself, not any patent or copyright law. You accepted that contract by downloading and using the GPLv2 code, and are bound by its terms. The terms of GPLv2 state that if you're not allowed to ship your bits, then you also lose the right to use the original GPLv2 bits as well. > So as long as the author does not ship the code as part of his/her > own distribution, there is not much that can be done against it. > > (You ship a copyrighted work which is completely your own code > and which includes no other code whatsoever) That's not the sticky part. The sticky part is making your "own code" that is in fact based on a work by someone else that is under GPLv2. -- James Carlson, Solaris Networking <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sun Microsystems / 1 Network Drive 71.232W Vox +1 781 442 2084 MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757 42.496N Fax +1 781 442 1677 _______________________________________________ opensolaris-discuss mailing list [email protected]
