Re: [RFC] vtunerc: virtual DVB device - is it ok to NACK driver because of worrying about possible misusage?

From: Rémi Denis-Courmont
Date: Fri Dec 02 2011 - 12:59:13 EST


Le jeudi 1 décembre 2011 21:59:56 HoP, vous avez écrit :
> > Kernel code is GPLv2. You can use its code on a GPLv2 licensed library.
>
> I see. So if you think it is nice to get dvb-core, make a wrapper around
> to get it usable in userspace and maintain totally same functionality
> by myself then I say it is no go. If it looks for you like good idea
> I must disagree. Code duplication?

Sure, some core code would be duplicated. That is not a big deal.

This proposal however has three big advantages:
- Proprietary drivers are not enabled as the library would be GPL.
- The virtual DVB device runs in the same process as the DVB application,
which saves context switching and memory copying.
- It would be your project. You do not need to agree with Mauro ;-)

> Two maintaners? That is crazy idea man.

Someone would have to maintain the device driver anyway. I don't see much of a
difference on maintainance side.

> > And I can't see any advantage on yours ;) Putting something that belongs
> > to userspace into kernelspace just because it is easier to re-use the
> > existing code inside the kernel is not a good argument.
>
> It is only your POV that it should be in userspace.

Except for backward compatiblity, this would actually belong in userspace. It
would be more efficient and easier to maintain as a userspace library than as
a kernel driver.

If you need backward compatibility, I am still inclined to believe that you
could write a CUSE frontend, so it does involve some extra work and looses the
performance benefit.

--
Rémi Denis-Courmont
http://www.remlab.net/
http://fi.linkedin.com/in/remidenis
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