Messages in this thread | | | Date | Tue, 6 May 2003 22:43:05 +0200 | From | Pavel Machek <> | Subject | Re: Using GPL'd Linux drivers with non-GPL, binary-only kernel |
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Hi!
> I was mulling over a commercial project proposal, and this question > came up: > > What's the position of kernel developers towards using the GPL'd Linux > kernel modules - that is, device drivers, network stack, filesystems > etc. - with a binary-only, closed source kernel that is written > independently of Linux? > > I realise that linking the modules directly with the binary kernel is > a big no no, but what if they are dynamically loaded? > > There seems to be a broad agreement, and I realise it isn't unanimous, > that dynamically loading binary-only modules into the Linux kernel is > ok. Furthermore, there are some funny rules about which interfaces a > binary-only module may use and which it may not, before it's > considered a derivative work of the kernel. > > So, as dynamic loading is ok between parts of Linux and binary-only > code, that seems to imply we could build a totally different kind of > binary-only kernel which was able to make use of all the Linux kernel > modules. We could even modularise parts of the kernel which aren't > modular now, so that we could take advantage of even more parts of Linux. > > What do you think?
If you can make those drivers in your userspace, its certainly okay...
Pavel
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