Re: [PATCH] sockreg2.4.5-05 inet[6]_create() register/unregister table

["Albert D. Cahalan" <acahalan@cs.uml.edu>]

Henning P. Schmied writes:
> Alan Cox <alan@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> writes:

>> So it comes down to the question of whether the module is linking
>> (which is about dependancies and requirements) and what the legal
>> scope is. Which is a matter for lawyers.
>
> And this would void DaveMs' argument, that only the "official in
> Linus' kernel published interface is allowed for binary modules". This
> would mean, that putting the posted, unofficial patch under GPL into
> the kernel and then using this interface for a binary module is just
> the same as using only the official ABI from a lawyers' point of
> view! 
>
> This would make DaveMs' position even less understandable, because
> there would be no difference for a proprietary vendor but keeping the
> patch out of the kernel makes life harder for people like the original
> poster that want to test new (open sourced) protocols like SCTP.

Yep.

Consider a chunk of x86 instructions using a home-grown OS
abstraction layer, and drivers that implement that layer for
both Linux and any non-GPL operating system. The binary blob
is obviously not derived from Linux, and may in fact run
without modification in a BSD or Solaris/x86 kernel.

There is in fact just such a layer. It might not currently
have the features needed to implement TCP, but it could be
extended as needed.