On Tue, Apr 17, 2007 at 01:22:28AM -0700, Erik Trimble wrote: > Also, note that kernel modules are considered part of the kernel and > covered by the derivative portion of the GPL, at least in the eyes of > most Linux folks. ATI and nVidia get around this issue by producing a > GPL'd kernel module which provides stable ABI/API across many different > linux releases, then have their relevant drivers call this. > Theoretically, this might be possible with ZFS, but given that ZFS may > need deep interfacing with the VFS layers, I can't see how a clean > separation between a GPL'd ZFS kernel module (which you'd have to write > from scratch) and a CDDL'd driver can be made.
I thought ZFS code was structured so that the VFS-specific bits are in the ZPL and the rest of ZFS compiles and runs in kernel- and user-land. So you'd think that the biggest piece of work here would be the ZPL. Still, I'd put the odds of a GZPL very near zero. > And, frankly, I can think of several very good reasons why Sun would NOT > want to release a ZFS under the GPL - specifically, Linux is a direct > competitor to Solaris, and it does not benefit Sun (or, ultimately, > everyone) for all of Solaris' features to be directly incorporated into > Linux. Application-level compatibility between Linux and Solaris is > desirable for everyone, but there are still significant advantages to > OS-level feature differentiation. I agree. _______________________________________________ zfs-discuss mailing list zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
