Re: policy on GPL'd drivers?

From: Alexander Kabaev <kabaev_at_mail.ru>
Date: Tue, 27 May 2003 08:45:29 -0400
On Tue, 27 May 2003 14:36:26 +0200
Wilko Bulte <wkb_at_freebie.xs4all.nl> wrote:

> On Tue, May 27, 2003 at 02:35:41PM +0200, Stijn Hoop wrote:
> > On Tue, May 27, 2003 at 07:28:29AM -0500, David Leimbach wrote:
> > > I have the GPLd source to the nforce drivers for Linux
> > > to support the nVidia nforce and nforce2 drivers in the kernel.
> > > 
> > > To port these to FreeBSD would be an interesting task [if it
> > > hasn't already been done] and I have been looking for an excuse to
> > > get down and dirty with FBSD.
> > > [Yes... talk is cheap... just do it... Nike-a-go-go etc etc... :)]
> > > 
> > > What is the policy on drivers that are clearly going to have to be
> > > GPLd by the viral clause since I am referencing a GPL driver to do
> > > the porting work myself?  Are these allowed in the kernel?
> 
> Yes, see for example the GPL_ed floating point emulator.
> 
> However the idea is that all GPL infected stuff be isolated, allowing
> a fully working kernel without GPL stuff in there.
> 
> > > <semi-joke>
> > > Can we have a "tainted" flag for kernels running GPL drivers :).
> > > </semi-joke>
> > 
> > I'm interested in this too -- I have a working FreeBSD prototype of
> > the i8k Linux driver, fan control for Dell laptops. I was planning
> > to ask the author if he was willing to relicense it to BSD, but
> > failing that
> 
> A BSD license is ***strongly*** prefered.
> 
> > the answer to this question might be interesting.
> 
I and no doubt many others will insist on keeping GPLed drivers out of
the tree. I have no objections for this drivers to be confined in ports
though.
Received on Tue May 27 2003 - 03:45:35 UTC

This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Wed May 19 2021 - 11:37:09 UTC