Re: the beef

Re: the beef

Posted Oct 3, 2006 14:47 UTC (Tue) by mingo (subscriber, #31122)
In reply to: Re: the beef by svkelley
Parent article: Busy busy busybox

This is absurd.

yes, it is.

In my opinion, that is the quickest way to kill commercial embedded Linux development.

If the kernel moved to the GPLv3, it would be, yes. Given that the kernel is the closest to the hardware, we kernel developers will be the first ones to see the bad effects of any bad construct within the GPLv3 affecting hardware. That is i think partly the reason why the growing resistance against the GPLv3 comes from the kernel community.

And even if the GPLv3 does not yet limit wide aspects of the hardware (only certain types of keys are included for the moment), a dangerous precedent is set and the possibilities for excuses to widen the definition of "Source Code" are unlimited.

The GPLv3 in this point significantly departs from the spirit of the GPLv2, which explicitly grants the freedom of unlimited end-use and the freedom of not having GPL-ed code control works (such as hardware) independent of that GPL-ed code. Even if that end-use or hardware is highly inconvenient (and thus makes the modification of software harder) for certain classes of developers: it is an atomic bomb, a landmine or a Tivo.

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