On Tue, Feb 25, 2003 at 10:03:28AM +0100, Jerome Alet wrote:
If they distributed the binary of a GPLed software to you, then you can ask them for the source which they *must* give you (eventually for a fee to cover physical reproduction costs) to comply with the terms of the GNU GPL. If they refuse then they must stop from distributing the binary.
I agree - I don't think they have a leg to stand on in that respect.
However IIRC Linus, in his great wisdom :-((, chose to allow proprietary "modules" in the Linux kernel
I don't think that's the case. There are obviously problems with the Linux licence - the version 2 only thing, for example - but there isn't anything which says you can link proprietary modules with the kernel.
He did say that he thought it would be possible to write a module that was not derived from the kernel, and therefore it's likely that it a) wouldn't infringe itself, and b) wouldn't infringe by contribution - I think in the case of nVidia drivers, etc., that might well be the case. I can't say that I think it would be common, though.
See: http://lwn.net/Articles/13066/
Cheers,
Alex.