Re: Non-GPL export of invalidate_mmap_range

[Andrew Morton]

Christoph Hellwig <hch@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> On Wed, Feb 18, 2004 at 03:32:34PM -0800, Andrew Morton wrote:
> > > Yes.  We've traditionally not exported symbols unless we had an intree user,
> > > and especially not if it's for a module that's not GPL licensed.
> > 
> > That's certainly a good rule of thumb and we (and I) have used it before.
> > 
> > What is the reasoning behind it?
> 
> The reason is that someone who wants to distribute a binary only module
> has to show it's module is not a derived work, and someone who needs new
> core in the kernel and new exports pretty much shows his work is deeply
> integrated with the kernel.

Needing access to invalidate_mmap_range() is surely not an indication of a
derived work.  It is an indication of a need for a reliable way to achieve
inter-node cache consistency.  Other distributed filesystems will need this
and probably AIX already provides it.

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