-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Carl-Daniel Hailfinger wrote: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: >> AFAIK nvidia's driver doesn't violate the GPL because they use a >> GPLed shim, this doesn't mean it's morally right though. > > With that reasoning, every software license would be meaningless. ... > Speaking as a private individual (not for any employer) and kernel > developer, I hope somebody has the time and money to sue certain GPL > violators. Suing works well for userspace programs and embedded devices > (see http://gpl-violations.org/ for details), so why not for certain > kernel modules, too?
That money would better be invested into writing a reverse engineered 3D capable driver for nVidia GPUs. What's next, sue the "mad" project ? > I admit that for a few persons the eradication of closed source kernel > modules may be somewhat unpleasant, but in the longer term it is the > only feasible way. The unavailability of said modules will make people > more willing to test reverse engineered drivers, leading to greater > driver quality overall. "unpleasant" is not the right word. Where are the reverse engineered drivers for nVidia ? Where is a capable graphics card with 100% GPL drivers ? Not nvidia, not ati, not intel, so ... ? I'm not whining, just pointing you to the current situation as far as hardware accelerated 3D GPUs are concerned on Linux. Is there any good 3D GPU that has a 100% GPL driver ? Is there any WLAN chipset that you can buy today and that has a 100% GPL driver ? (well, there is, the one that has been dropped from 10.1) I totally understand your point, but it's also about being somewhat realistic. The fact that obviously you nor any other kernel developer needs or uses a hardware accelerated 3D GPU is one thing, but not letting people live with a far from perfect but functional situation is another. Freedom and GPL are invaluable, but bigotry doesn't help anyone. Would it be so bad to have a repository hosted outside of novell.com/opensuse.org that ships nVidia's driver as an RPM instead of having people go through compiling it themselves ? Certainly would be a big help for a lot of users. Yes, we can currently use nVidia's repository for SLED, but that is just a "by chance" side-effect, there is no guarantee whatsoever that we will still have that option in a near future. cheers - -- -o) Pascal Bleser http://linux01.gwdg.de/~pbleser/ /\\ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _\_v The more things change, the more they stay insane. -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.2 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFE/KKfr3NMWliFcXcRAkyaAKCDofuhVO3o7zIv/1445lAH+ovgXACbBbqx /caGNxYd3M4iXA14tiYG724= =GGmO -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
