On Fri, 27 Oct 2000, Jason Wohlgemuth wrote:
> Consider this:
>
> A subsystem that is statically built into the Linux Kernel is modified
> to allow the registration of a structure containing function pointers.
>
> The function pointers corrolate to a set of functions within that subsystem.
> If the new structure of pointers has been registered, the original
> functions will call the new functions in the structure passing all
> arguments and returning the return value of the new function.
>
> With this said, if no structure has been registered, then no
> functionality is degraded within the kernel. Only the loss of some cpu
> time to check the pointers at the top of the old functions.
>
> Now, if a module is loaded that registers a set of functions that have
> increased functionality compared to the original functions, if that
> modules is not based off GPL'd code, must the source code of that module
> be released under the GPL?
>
> Thanks in advance,
> Jason Wohlgemuth
the api of the module would be a reimplementation of a GPL'd api
(the function names may have changed, but the base behaviors must be equivalent)
so the question in simple terms might phrased as:
is the API under GPL, or is it the code or are both?
I think the answer is both.
-- /*------------------------------------------------** ** Mark Salisbury | Mercury Computer Systems ** ** mbs@mc.com | ** **------------------------------------------------** ** "WYGIWYD - What You Get Is What You Deserve" ** **------------------------------------------------*/- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
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