On Thu, Jun 12, 2008 at 1:26 PM, Francis Earl
You miss the point entirely. The GPL does not prohibit the use of either binary firmware drivers or binary blobs.
It actually does prohibit a work based on such things being released as a whole... this is why nvidia and ati stuff, and other firmware are not part of the kernel. In the case of Linux the kernel, they also take measures to ensure such things cannot use kernel calls made by non-GPL stuff (google for GPL_ONLY in the kernel)
It simply prohibits their distribution embedded in a distro.
No, it is their illegality that requires they be outside the kernel. Many get away with it though because we can't prove that they make kernel specific calls, thus it's hard to argue they are a derived work.
This is nonsense. Sooner or later EVERY program demand something from the kernel. You have no clue how software really works do you? Calling another program does not make the caller a derived work. Nor does it make the called program a derived work.
Make no mistake though, if it IS a Linux kernel derived work, it is UTTERLY illegal.
And that too is a misstatement.
If you argue the GPL is bad or immoral, you're breaking the law using the code at all.
Listen sonny, stop preaching here till you get your law degree, or at least graduate from high school.
Currently, many hardware vendors are simply requiring their hardware be supported by Linux.
Again, total nonsense. No hardware venders are REQUIRING anything of linux.
Ignorance and arguments based on the small picture, without even attempting to see the big picture is also counter productive. Go out and buy hardware that is fully supported by Linux,
Good luck with that. Older video cards are being dropped from the shelves daily. Older WIFI chipsets are being replaced with newer models. If you want performance you are going to have non-gpl drivers in your machine. Its that simple. By the way, is your kernel tainted? cat /proc/sys/kernel/tainted -- ----------JSA--------- -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org