Messages in this thread | | | From | Bartlomiej Zolnierkiewicz <> | Subject | Re: [PATCH] Blacklist binary-only modules lying about their license | Date | Fri, 30 Apr 2004 16:49:56 +0200 |
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On Friday 30 of April 2004 06:32, Peter Williams wrote: > Bartlomiej Zolnierkiewicz wrote: > > On Friday 30 of April 2004 04:15, Marc Boucher wrote: > >>Dear Sean, > >> > >>On Apr 29, 2004, at 7:55 PM, Sean Estabrooks wrote: > >>>Perhaps others on this list are getting as tired as I am of your using > >>>the term "religious bias" as a negative connotation against people who > >>>support and protect the open source nature of Linux. Maybe you could > >>>at least pretend to respect the people who you supposedly apologized > >>>to. > >> > >>I not only highly respect Rusty but have closely worked and been > >>friends with him for several years. The same applies to several other > >>kernel developers. > >> > >>Please don't get me wrong. We are entirely for the open-source nature > >>of Linux, and I have been personally contributing for the last 15 years > >>to many open-source projects (for examples, see the AUTHORS section of > >>"man iptables", or search google for my previous email addresses > >>marc@mbsi.ca & marc@cam.org to get more historical background). > > > > Well, people change over time. 8) > > > > from http://www.linuxant.com/driverloader/ > > > > "DriverLoader technology is the ideal Linux solution to support devices > > for which no adequate native open-source drivers are available. It also > > allows vendors to drastically reduce time to market or eliminate the need > > to support multiple drivers for Windows and Linux. By using the same > > driver on both platforms, significant resources can be saved." > > > > Rusty was right. > > Why did you omit the next paragraph (which completes the story): > > "We have attempted to reduce the inconvenience of binary-only drivers by > separating the proprietary code from the operating-system specific code. > The latter is provided in source form, allowing users to install the > drivers under any supported version (2.4 or later) of the Linux kernel."
It is unimportant here, using GPL-ed wrappers to load closed-source drivers is like using LILO to boot Windows. ;)
Open-source drivers are one of the fundamental advantages of Linux and drivers are part of operating system.
Splitting driver by "separating the proprietary code from the operating-system specific code." weakens this advantage.
There is a question about integrity when you say that you promote open-source nature of Linux but you don't promote open-source drivers.
Regards, Bartlomiej
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