It's not so simple
It's not so simple
Posted Mar 1, 2011 7:08 UTC (Tue) by ekj (guest, #1524)In reply to: It's not so simple by ESRI
Parent article: Red Hat's "obfuscated" kernel source
They do - and it's actually not clear-cut that they're allowed to do this. In the context of the GPL, "source-code" has a specific meaning, stated in the license, which is:
<i>"The source code for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it."</i>
RedHat here made a change SPECIFICALLY to make it harder to "make modifications" to their kernel. (for example the modification of removing a single patch) The *prefered* form of the Linux-kernel for making modifications to it, would be a git-repository, I tend to think. (that's what all the people who -make- modifications to it use, including RedHat)
Thus it -certainly- violates the spirit of the GPL. If it also violates the letter of it, is lawyer-food and not something I feel competent to comment upon.
The LWN site is currently under high scraper load, so comment display has been suppressed for anonymous users. If you are a human, you may read the comments by clicking the button below:
Note: you can avoid this step in the future by logging into your LWN account.