Messages in this thread | | | Subject | Re: People, not GPL [was: Re: Driver Model] | From | (Eric W. Biederman) | Date | 11 Sep 2003 07:30:10 -0600 |
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"David Schwartz" <davids@webmaster.com> writes:
> The GPL_ONLY stuff is an attempt to restrict use. There is nothing > inherently wrong with attempts to restrict use. One could argue that the > root permission check on 'umount' is a restriction on use. Surely the GPL > doesn't mean you can't have any usage restrictions at all.
No the GPL_ONLY stuff is an attempt to document that there is no conceivable way that using a given symbol does not create a derived work.
If you use an unmodified kernel it is only a one liner to ensure it does not complain about your code. So this only shows up as a real impediment when code that uses the symbol is distributed.
Beyond which copying code into the kernel is when this is checked so this is a valid place to check things. There is a strong tying between using programs and copying them into memory. And that copying is the justification for most usage restrictions even in commercial software.
The code is also quite a small nit that really should not affect anything.
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