Julie wrote:
>
> From: Thomas Dodd <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Ivan Jager wrote:
> > >
> > > I think this is the relevant part of the GPL, but you should still read
> > > the whole license.
> >
> > Read Donald Becker's take on this. He wrote many of the NIC
> > drivers in/for the linux kernel (including the DEC tulip driver)
>
> My reading of the GPL is that you only get in trouble if you
> distribute a GPL'd work as an essential part of a larger non-GPL'd
> product. If you distribute the two separately, the terms of
> distribution of the non-GPL'd work have no bearing on the GPL'd
> work and vice versa. If you'd like an example of this, every
> proprietary OS that has had a GPL'd program ported to it
> should suffice. Proprietary OS vendors have been very careful
> not to distribute GPL'd software as parts of their proprietary
> OSes, but that hasn't kept GPL'd programs from being ported
> to use non-GPL'd libraries and OSes.
My understanding is that hardware drivers (like a NIC or SCSI HBA)
are not "seperate works" but part of the complet work
know as the OS or kernel. Putting GPL code into that makes
the wole work GPL. But apps (like gcc, or gnumeric) are
seperate works in and of themselves, so only the app has to
be GPL. But if you take the gnumeric Excel filter or
the gcc C++ parser, and put them in another app, it
would be a derived work and need to be GPL'ed too.
> > http://www.scyld.com/expert/license.html
> >
> > Non-GPL drivers for the linux kerenl are allowed
> > explicitly by Linus.
>
> Again, I don't see how a restriction here could be enforced.
It would require a lawsuit to find out, and so far nobody
has filed one that I know of. Most GPL software belongs to
people whyo don't have the time or money for one, and
the companies with the time and money, don't
release GPL software.
IANL either, so I just stay clear of these issues.
If I modify GPL code it stays with me. Nobody else ever
sees it, Or I send patches to the authors/owners and
let them decide weather it should become part of the normal
distributed code. Playing it safe keeps me out of trouble.
-Thomas
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