In article <20030506220018$5b96@gated-at.bofh.it>,
Jamie Lokier <jamie@shareable.org> wrote:
: I do not see any practical alternative way to create a new kind of
: operating system kernel that is compatible with the wide range of PC
: hardware, other than:
:
: (a) read lots of open source code and then write drivers,
: filesystems etc. from what is learned, or
: (b) just use the available code with appropriate wrapping.
:
: Both are lots of work. But isn't (b) going to be less work? I'm not
: sure.
If your interest is in creating a new and unique OS, you'll likely find that it
becomes a great deal of work to try to glue the linux drivers into it.
I would imagine in the majority of cases you'd either have to change the driver
code considerably to fit the subtleties of <newos>, or change the <newos> code
considerably to fit the subtleties of linux.
When creating a new system, the last thing you want to have to do is carry
around a bunch of extra baggage that you really don't need.
Anyways, this is 2003, aren't operating systems supposed to be boring by now?
And where's my flying car damnit. ;)
To answer your question more directly, I think most developers would agree that
the spirit of the GPL is "give as you take". If just releasing back the source
to the modified drivers - completely useless without your new closed kernel -
doesn't feel a whole lot like "giving", then you're probably not doing enough to
keep people happy.
Cheers - Tony 'Nicoya' Mantler :)
-- Tony "Nicoya" Mantler - Renaissance Nerd Extraordinaire - nicoya@apia.dhs.org Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada -- http://nicoya.feline.pp.se/ - 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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