On Fri, Jan 25, 2008 at 10:28:14AM -0800, Sloan wrote: > Greg KH wrote: > >> Sloan wrote: > >> > >>> They have tried, but their answers make no sense, > >>> and fall apart as soon as you take a close look. > >>> I don't see what good this witch hunt can do - > >>> 1. nvidia makes video cards. > >>> 2. they write drivers for those cards, for windoze, solaris, freebsd and > >>> linux > >>> 3. the linux license nazis scream "lawbreaker!" > >>> > > > > "Nazis"? Ugh, have we already sunk that low in this thread? > > > > Apologies, this snippet was part of a private reply to Mr Kulkis who > sent me a PM about the nvidia module, then forwarded my personal reply > to the list, looking to generate controversy I suppose. I would have > been much more careful in my choice of words had I known it was destined > to be broadcast.
Ah, that wasn't very nice of Mr. Kulkis to do, apology accepted. > Sigh. Nvidia had been writing drivers for its cards for some time when > they started supporting linux as well. So clearly, the binary nvidia > driver is not a derivation of the linux kernel. They also supply a > linux-specific "shim" which provides an interface between the linux > kernel and the nvidia binary blob, and they provide the source of that > linux specific shim in the download. > > Seriously, where's the crime? Sorry, but providing a "shim" does not protect you from the GPL license of the Linux kernel. The Samba group has proved this many times in the past with lots of precident in going after companies that tried to do this with their code base. The Linux developers have also successfully enforced this in the past, so there really isn't any discenting opinion here among the legal community that works with the GPL. I prefer not to get into the legal details as I spend enough time talking to lawyers. Also, don't take legal advice from a programmer, just like you should not take medical advice from a lawyer. If you have questions about this, ask a lawyer, then can give you more information than you could ever want to know about this topic... thanks, greg k-h -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
