Messages in this thread | | | From | Kyle Moffett <> | Subject | Re: Possible GPL infringement in Broadcom-based routers | Date | Thu, 4 Nov 2004 19:23:14 -0500 |
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On Nov 04, 2004, at 18:57, David Schwartz wrote: > >> Can Broadcom and the vendors "escape" the obligations of the GPL by >> shipping those proprietary drivers as modules, or are they violating >> the >> GPL plain and simple by removing the related source code (and showing >> irrelevant code to show "proof of good will") ? > > That is a contentious issue that has been debated on this group far > too > much. In the United States, at least, the answer comes down to the > complex > legal question of whether the module is a "derived work" of the Linux > kernel > and whether the kernel as shipped with those modules is a "mere > aggregation".
Well, from what I can see of the makefiles and sources they distribute, they _don't_ distribute it as kernel+modules, they compile their drivers directly into their kernel:
./arch/mips/brcm-boards/bcm96345/Makefile:EXTRA_CFLAGS += -I$(TOPDIR)/../../targets ./drivers/char/bcm96345/board/Makefile:EXTRA_CFLAGS += -I. -I$(HPATH)/asm/bcm96345 -I$(TOPDIR)/../../targets -fno-exceptions ./Makefile:SUBDIRS +=modulesrc/drivers ../../targets ./Makefile:DRIVERS-y += modulesrc/drivers/kermods.o ../../targets/bp.o
They may call the directory "modulesrc", but it does _NOT_ appear to be linked as a kernel module, but directly into the kernel. I think that in this case their build process is too tightly integrated with the kernel to _not_ be a derivative work.
Cheers, Kyle Moffett
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