On Thu, Nov 06, 2014 at 08:34:40PM -0500, random832_AT_fastmail.us wrote:
>None of this has been examined by a court.
It's because Linus T. and many core kernel devs decided not to go to
court against closed source modules. The linux GNU GPLv2 has only the syscall
exception and does not contain the "lesser" exception that would allow binary
blobs to live below the syscalls. The syscall exception has been in there since
the beginning I presume. Adding the "lesser" exception would be license change.
Thus, nvidia ass holes can keep distributing their binary blob for linux, since
linux is actually a GNU 'lesser' GPLv2 kernel which in *not* a plain GNU GPVv2.
It's a balance of power issue: if linux wants to become a sensible alternative
on the desktop, it must have a nvidia driver because they have a huge market
share. Then, it was decided to let go...
regards,
--
Sylvain
Received on Fri Nov 07 2014 - 05:04:14 CET