"Licensed" codecs

[Sam Steingold]

> * Pavel Rosenboim <cnirye at pberfzn.pbz> [2003-09-23 20:09:56 +0300]:
>
> Alan Cox wrote:
> 
> >>>Consult a lawyer. The definition of 'derivative' is complicated to
> >>>say the least.  For actual GPL code the GPL itself deliberately
> >>>takes a "free nor not at all" approach.
> >>
> >>There exist non-GPLd kernel modules, though (NVIDIA drivers,etc...).
> >>Do you want to say that they are illegal?

the _modules_ are of course legal (as in "you can write and use them
yourself"), but you cannot _distribute_ them without the sources,
at least according to the way FSF interprets GPL.

If the copyright holders of the Linux kernel think differently (and, but
all means, it is their right!), they might consider adding a clause
which clarifies what they mean, like the CLISP maintainers did in their
COPYRIGHT file [1].

> > As I said consult a lawyer. A body of people including the FSF
> > certainly believe they are.
> > 
> 
> Well, if we define 'derivative' in SCO way, then plugins and kernel
> modules must be GPLd :)
> 
> Seriously, I had and impression that only static linking "enforces"
> GPL and dynamically linked code doesn't. Especially in the case of
> loaded-on-demand plugins. But IANAL either.

IIUC, dynamic vs static is irrelevant (e.g., even if you link against
libreadline.so, not libreadline.a, you still must use GPL).

a "thumb rule" could be this: does the program in question (kernel
module in this case) "make sense" (is useful, will run) without the
GPLed program (the Linux kernel in this case)?
If not, then it is an extension and is therefore covered by the GPL.

IANAL.

[1] <http://clisp.cons.org/faq.html#gpl>:

License - why GNU GPL?

Because CLISP uses GNU readline.

Note that this does not necessarily prevent you from distributing your
proprietary products based on CLISP. See Note in COPYRIGHT.


-- 
Sam Steingold (http://www.podval.org/~sds) running w2k
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