From: "john smith" <john.smith77@gmx.net>
To: Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu
Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Kernel modul licensing issues
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2003 11:58:40 +0100 (MET) [thread overview]
Message-ID: <21385.1070276320@www22.gmx.net> (raw)
[-- Warning: decoded text below may be mangled, UTF-8 assumed --]
[-- Attachment #1: Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii", Size: 1907 bytes --]
Hi Valdis
> You're probably "in the clear" if that's what's really going on, and
> can probably go a route similar to NVidia (GPL interface to a binary
> module).
I just had a quick look at the current version of nvidia's linux driver
(http://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86/1.0-4496/NVIDIA-Linux-x86-1.0-4496-pkg2.run).
The source code of the kernel front-end is _not_ GPL.
It provides both definition for the OS independent symbols used in the
binary object (!= kernel module) nv-kernel.o and the necessary linux
kernel module code (and of course it makes use of the API nv.h
provided by the binary object).
So, the nvidia kernel module consists of the binary object directly
linked to the objects compiled from the _non-GPL_ sources.
> The part I'm not having warm fuzzies about is that the only
> application that comes to mind that could take a char[] and be totally
> kernel-independent and that would make sense in the kernel rather than
> out in userspace is a crypto transform - and that's because closed
> source crypto is usually not taken seriously.
I totally agree with you and I can reassure you that the algorithm
has nothing to do with crypto.
> Of course, if you're not doing crypto, then you can apply the usual
> cost/benefit analysis of doing it closed source versus the payoff for
> an attacker to crack it....
Hm, not sure what you mean by "crack it". Maybe you mean that
it's possible to apply "binary analysis methods" against the implementation
provided in the binary and then reimplement the algorithm as open source?
Well, in that case we have to deal with it but that's not my job :)
Regards,
John
--
Neu bei GMX: Preissenkung für MMS-Versand und FreeMMS!
Ideal für alle, die gerne MMS verschicken:
25 FreeMMS/Monat mit GMX TopMail.
http://www.gmx.net/de/cgi/produktemail
+++ GMX - die erste Adresse für Mail, Message, More! +++
next reply other threads:[~2003-12-01 10:58 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 5+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2003-12-01 10:58 john smith [this message]
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2003-12-01 0:27 Kernel modul licensing issues john smith
2003-12-01 0:57 ` Valdis.Kletnieks
2003-11-30 13:23 Manfred Spraul
2003-11-30 12:30 john smith
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=21385.1070276320@www22.gmx.net \
--to=john.smith77@gmx.net \
--cc=Valdis.Kletnieks@vt.edu \
--cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox;
as well as URLs for NNTP newsgroup(s).