Linus Denounces NDISWrapper, Denies It GPL Status

eldavojohn writes "On message boards, Linus Torvalds was explaining why NDISWrapper is not eligible to be released under the GPL even though the project claims to be. Linus remarked, "Ndiswrapper itself is *not* compatible with the GPL. Trying to claim that ndiswrapper somehow itself is GPL'd even though it then loads modules that aren't is stupid and pointless. Clearly it just re-exports those GPLONLY functions to code that is *not* GPL'd." This all sprung up with someone restricted NDISWrapper's access to GPL-only symbols thereby breaking the utility. Linus merely replied that "If it loads non-GPL modules, it shouldn't be able to use GPLONLY symbols." As you may know, NDISWrapper implements Windows kernel API and then loads Windows binaries for a number of devices and runs them natively to avoid the cost and complication of emulation."

Comments

Re:Linus making friends fast

[jim.hansson]

this is funny, most of the time I get the impression that Linus is NOT a "GPL natzi", but at times like this you could mistake him for RMS.
but it is his tree so if he says it is not GPL compatible then it's not GPL compatible.
for the record, I have to agree with Linus on this one (but thats me and who am i).

Re:It can load GPL-licensed Windows drivers

[baadger]

Amusing observation.

I bet the number of GPL'd NDIS drivers for Windows can be counted on one toe. I myself started writing an NDIS 6 driver for a chipset that has no native Vista drivers (although the NDIS 5 XP driver works on Vista x86) but have recently lost interest, despite almost completing basic functionality, because I realised I will never be able to use it under Vista x64 due to the OS's draconian driver signing policy..which cannot be disabled.

Re:Linus making friends fast

[MenTaLguY]

The demonstrated intent of the copyright holder does have some bearing on the interpretation of a license, however.