Re: spinlocks, the GPL, and binary-only modules

From: archaios (quack@bigpond.net.au)
Date: Wed Nov 20 2002 - 01:41:56 EST

When you GPL a piece of software, you sign over your rights to the FSF. Therefore, there is very little that can be done about this;
from a legal perspective, the FSF _itself_ determines what is and what isn't construed as a derived work.

- David McIlwraith
----- Original Message -----
From: Ross Vandegrift <ross@willow.seitz.com>
To: Rik van Riel <riel@conectiva.com.br>
Cc: <linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 3:26 PM
Subject: Re: spinlocks, the GPL, and binary-only modules

On Wed, Nov 20, 2002 at 12:59:26AM -0200, Rik van Riel wrote:
> You can copyright songs, but not individual musical notes.
>
> Likewise, snippets of code aren't copyrightable if they're below
> a certain "triviality size".

I don't pretend to be current on all the issues involved, but I've
always been under the impression that Linus has insisted that
binary-only drivers aren't derived works, with respect to the GPL.

If someone is worried they are, make all future headers state it
explicitly:

"Including this header in a Linux kernel module shall not be construed
to constitute a derived work." 

--
Ross Vandegrift
ross@willow.seitz.com

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