> On 14 Jan 2016, at 11:39, Neal Gompa <ngompa13@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Jan 14, 2016 at 2:35 PM, Michael Catanzaro <mcatanzaro@gnome.org> wrote:
>> On Thu, 2016-01-14 at 20:24 +0100, Reindl Harald wrote:
>>> likely i did much more research than you can even imagine long
>>> before
>>> that thread started
>>
>> I find this challenging to believe.
>>
>>> CDDL is incompatible with GPLv2 - period
>>
>> Did you read the web site at all? The argument is that it can be used
>> as a kernel module without constituting a derived work. Many developers
>> believe this is not a GPL violation. Many believe otherwise. This is a
>> well-known, open controversy. It's to be expected that different sets
>> of lawyers will have different opinions on the risk depending on
>> business requirements and their company's risk profile.
>>
>> Michael
>
> As far as I know, that's why the kernel has symbol export feature to
> indicate which ones are covered by the GPL-ness (GPL_ONLY symbol
> export).
>
The distinction between EXPORT_SYMBOL and EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL is minimal. The theory [1] is that EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL indicates that the kernel community believes that EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL symbols are so core to Linux that you cannot use them without creating a derived work under copyright law. Thus using an EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL symbol from a GPL-incompatible module is deliberate infringement, with all that that implies in terms of the legal system; using an EXPORT_SYMBOL symbol from a GPL-incompatible module *might* be non-infringing (if the work using it is legally separate in terms of copyright law), or might be accidental infringement (if you didn't realise what you were doing carried legal risk).
In all cases, you need to talk to your copyright expert lawyer about distributing GPL-incompatible modules for the Linux kernel. Copyright law has some sharp edges, and you can get hurt if you ignore them; for Fedora, Red Hat Inc take on that liability, and they'll not want to do anything that puts them at risk of harm.
[1] https://lwn.net/Articles/154602/
--
Simon Farnsworth