Kernel source

Bryan J. Smith b.j.smith at ieee.org
Mon Apr 17 01:33:25 UTC 2006


On Sun, 2006-04-16 at 17:36 +0200, Arjan van de Ven wrote:
> That's an "issue" if that's the case.

It is the case.  NDIS is object code and it's linked to the GPL code.
No different than how Atheros does its WLAN module either.

> Now, I think you misunderstand how this stuff works because really
> nobody is so stupid to do static linking to GPL stuff with non-GPL
> stuff;

Linus has stated, on the LKML, with regards to the Atheros module and
others.  I'll find the link for you.

> that's the part where your lawyer will yell at you for being a
> total idiot.

Be careful with that assertion.

> With dynamic linking it gets a bit of a gray area (is it
> "derived" if you dynamic link? Is it still independent enough to be able
> to ship it in one work? That's where you have to consult your lawyer to
> get any meaningful answer, which may even vary per jurisdiction :)

If the non-GPL code was written for _another_OS_, how can it be a
"derived work"?  That's basically what Linus said.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith             Professional, technical annoyance
mailto:b.j.smith at ieee.org       http://thebs413.blogspot.com
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