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    SubjectRe: Dual-Licensing Linux Kernel with GPL V2 and GPL V3
    Once upon a time, Jesper Juhl <jesper.juhl@gmail.com> said:
    >Let's say I'm the owner of a company selling some device that uses a
    >GPLv2 OS and some GPLv2 applications to do the job. Let's say that for
    >some reason I don't want the end users of my device to tinker with the
    >software inside my device. Obviously I release the source for any
    >modifications I may have made, but I use the hardware to prevent users
    >from installing modified versions on the device (basically I TiVO'ize
    >the device).

    BTW: Another reason a vendor might lock down the device is for security.
    For example, Juniper routers (which now run a significant portion of the
    "core" of the Internet) run FreeBSD on the routing engine. They include
    several GNU software utilities (for example gawk, diff, and gdb).
    Starting with JUNOS 7.6 (IIRC), end-users can no longer build and run
    their own binaries on the routing engine. This means that the GPLv2
    code cannot be modified in-place (similar to TiVo altough done using
    different means).

    The reason is that if there ever is a security hole in the routing
    engine software (FreeBSD kernel, OpenSSH, etc.), it would be a really
    bad thing if crackers could load arbitrary software (rootkits, spam
    software, etc.) directly on Internet core routers. If you think spam
    zombies on cable modems or DSL are bad, imagine them on 100 megabit
    links!
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