[olug] [OT] Video Card Recommendation

[T. J. Brumfield]

On Thu, Dec 10, 2009 at 11:39 PM, Luke-Jr <luke at dashjr.org> wrote:
>> Does their closed source kernel _patch_ include GPL'd code?
>
> Yes.

On what basis do you make this accusation?

> nVidia has presumably copied Linux at least once in order to write the driver.
> To do that, they had to agree to the terms of the GPL. Including that they
> cannot distribute derived works that link to incompatibly licensed software.

So, you assume in order to write a driver you must take GPL code. By
your logic, no one would ever be able to write a Windows driver since
they don't have the NT kernel to steal the source from.

> You do, yes. But they don't have the right to distribute it.

Linus himself then even clarifies that a driver written for another OS
initially and then ported has no argument of being called a derived
work. He speciifcally mentions the Nvidia driver, saying it can't be
considered a derived work of Linux because it was written for Windows
first, and merely ported.

But clearly, you know more on this matter than the Linux kernel
developers, the FSF and Linus himself.

-- T. J. Brumfield