Gentoo Archives: gentoo-user

From: Marc Joliet <marcec@×××.de>
To: gentoo-user@l.g.o
Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [WAS: keyboard stops working] Recent kernels block the loading of non-GPL kernel modules
Date: Thu, 20 Aug 2015 08:40:42
Message-Id: 20150820104022.43d8450d@thetick
In Reply to: Re: [gentoo-user] Re: [WAS: keyboard stops working] Recent kernels block the loading of non-GPL kernel modules by Rich Freeman
1 Am Wed, 19 Aug 2015 21:13:01 -0400
2 schrieb Rich Freeman <rich0@g.o>:
3
4 > So, who cares what they think? They don't get to write the law. When
5 > Linus says stuff that is smart, I'll admire him for it. When he says
6 > stuff that is dumb, I'm not afraid to say that the emperor has no
7 > clothes.
8
9 What do you think of the input the lawyers he went to gave him [0]:
10
11 "Linus, however, believes that GPL-only exports are significant.
12
13 I've talked to a lawyer or two, and (a) there's an absolutely _huge_
14 difference and (b) they liked it.
15
16 The fact is, the law isn't a blind and mindless computer that takes what
17 you say literally. Intent matters a LOT. And using the xxx_GPL() version to
18 show that it's an internal interface is very meaningful indeed.
19
20 One of the lawyers said that it was a much better approach than trying to
21 make the license explain all the details - codifying the intention in the
22 code itself is not only more flexible, but a lot less likely to be
23 misunderstood."
24
25 In the rest of the email [1] he writes:
26
27 "I think both them said that anybody who were to change a xyz_GPL to the
28 non-GPL one in order to use it with a non-GPL module would almost
29 immediately fall under the "willful infringement" thing, and that it would
30 make it MUCH easier to get triple damages and/or injunctions, since they
31 clearly knew about it.
32
33 I suspect programmers make horrible lawyers. They nitpick on details that
34 sane humans don't. I think programmers often end up forgetting about the
35 fact that human interactions don't work that way. Common sense makes a lot
36 of difference, and DWIM is not just possible, but it's the only thing that
37 matters.
38
39 Linus"
40
41 [0] https://lwn.net/Articles/154602/
42 [1] https://lwn.net/Articles/154603/
43 --
44 Marc Joliet
45 --
46 "People who think they know everything really annoy those of us who know we
47 don't" - Bjarne Stroustrup

Replies