Re: Linux in a binary world... a doomsday scenario

David Woodhouse wrote: 
Since the protection of EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL() is only relevant if you are
actually found to be in violation of the licence, we might as well be
using it for all symbols. If you fervently believe that binary-only
modules are legal, you can still go ahead and use them. It's just that
you'd better be _very_ sure of yourself before you do so, because if you
_do_ lose in court you'll be getting more than a slap on the wrist.

By switching in the opposite direction, Linus is actively weakening our
position, and I object very strongly to that.


Linus made a pragmatic technical decision for the benefit of a bunch of Linux users, a decision I support despite the fact that NVIDIA are a bunch of sillyheads.

Realistically, no position was weakened, nothing new happened.

In the context of the larger thread, the doomsday scenario is highly unlikely because of positive engineering attributes of open source. Smart companies want open source drivers not because people snipe at them verbally and legally, but because the process produces superior engineering in the end.

	Jeff


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