From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S262945AbTGATmL (ORCPT ); Tue, 1 Jul 2003 15:42:11 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S263380AbTGATmL (ORCPT ); Tue, 1 Jul 2003 15:42:11 -0400 Received: from mailrelay1.lanl.gov ([128.165.4.101]:20922 "EHLO mailrelay1.lanl.gov") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S262945AbTGATmJ (ORCPT ); Tue, 1 Jul 2003 15:42:09 -0400 Subject: RE: How to Avoid GPL Issue From: Steven Cole To: "Heater, Daniel (IndSys, " "GEFanuc, VMIC)" Cc: "'G. C.'" , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org In-Reply-To: References: Content-Type: text/plain Organization: Message-Id: <1057089350.13992.37.camel@spc9.esa.lanl.gov> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Ximian Evolution 1.2.4-1.1mdk Date: 01 Jul 2003 13:55:51 -0600 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org On Tue, 2003-07-01 at 13:36, Heater, Daniel (IndSys, GEFanuc, VMIC) wrote: > > We are trying to port a third party hardware driver into Linux kernel and > > this third party vendor does not allow us to publish the source code. Is > > there any approach that we can avoid publicizing the third party code > while > > porting to Linux? Do we need to write some shim layer code in Linux kernel > > > to interface the third party code? How can we do that? Is there any > document > > or samples? > > It depends on what you intend to do with your port. If it is only for > internal use (you will not distribute the ported code in any form) > then you may not be required to supply the source code to anyone. This is > a common interpretation of the GPL (although I can not find explicit > language providing for this interpretation in the license). Look here: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLRequireSourcePostedPublic Steven