On Mon, May 09, 2005 at 08:25:16AM +1000, Brian May wrote: > > Sam> This happens for any non-GPL module. > > Ok, Thanks. > > I guess I misunderstood the tainting system. My understanding was that > it was to help kernel developers identify if you have closed source > software in your system making it impossible to debug problems.
That is what it is for. It is currently mis-implemented. See include/linux/module.h for details. The assumption is that if your license is not GPL compatible then your code is proprietary, because no license strings other than GPL-compatible ones are recognized by the module loader as being free. That assumption is false, and often conflated with the issue of modules being derived works of the kernel or not. In the case of OpenAFS, it is not a derived work so it is not subject to the GPL, and is also under a free license, so the kernel should not be tainted when it is loaded - at least under the original (and IMO reasonable) intent of kernel tainting. The fix would be to add a macro that recognizes the IBM Public License as a free license, but you'd better put on an asbestos suit if you want to try getting that merged. -- Ryan Underwood, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
