Linux: the GPL and Binary Modules

Posted by michael on Sunday December 7, 2003 @09:01PM from the how-many-angels-on-the-head-of-a-pin dept.

An anonymous reader writes "When first made available in September of 1991, the Linux kernel source code was released under a very restrictive non-GPL license requiring that the source code must always be available, and that no money could be made off of it. Several months later Linus changed the copyright to the GPL, or GNU General Public License, under which the kernel source code has remained ever since. Thanks to the GPL, any source code derived from the Linux kernel source code must also be freely released under the GPL. This has led many to question the legality of 'binary only' kernel modules, for which no source code is released. Linux creator Linus Torvalds talks about this issue in a recent thread on the lkml."

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GPL/Linux Modules? by nil5 · 2003-12-07 21:09 · Score: 0, Offtopic

So how does this affect hardware developers? I mean come on, are they subject to the same constraints as typical kernel developers? The main proble, as I believe Linux was trying to outline in the article, is that using any sort of licensing scheme will result in some unexpected difficulties. if you go here you will find just the sort of licensing predicament we can expect from now on.