Messages in this thread | | | Date | Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:32:40 +0000 | From | Alan Cox <> | Subject | Re: Developing non-commercial drivers ? |
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On Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:16:44 +0100 "Fredrik Markström" <fredrik.markstrom@avalonenterprise.com> wrote:
> Linus, others... > > I'm working for as a consultant for a large hardware company porting > Linux to their new cpu-architecture and everything is pretty much > up and running. Now they want us to develop a closed-source (to > protect their IP) ethernet driver for their proprietary Ethernet MAC. > > My question is: Is there a fair way to do this and still comply to > the intent and spirit of the Linux licensing ?
Ask a lawyer not a kernel hacker. The license is quite clear that if its a derivative work it must be GPL. Whether it is derivative is a matter for lawyers to ascertain and you should consult a good one if you wish to go dancing in minefields. In particular it is wise to remember that the copyright holders including almost every other large cpu vendor and so will include their competitors....
As to the spirit, the answer I think is: no. -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
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