From owner-freebsd-advocacy  Tue Jan  9 16:47: 2 2001
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Date: Tue, 09 Jan 2001 16:43:49 -0800
From: David Johnson <djohnson@acuson.com>
Organization: Acuson
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To: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com>
Cc: freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: any Linux distros which are not Open Source?
References: <Pine.BSF.4.31.0101091240230.48782-100000@pcle2.cc.univie.ac.at> <3A5BA9E2.34D6D857@softweyr.com>
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Wes Peters wrote:

> > If it's Linux, it's GPL. If it's GPL, it *must* be open source.
> 
> Let's correct that:
> 
> If it's GPL, it's *illegal* unless it is open source.
> 
> People (and companies) break the law all the time, and usually get away
> with it.

The Linux kernel has an exception written in to allow for system calls.
I also recall that Linus allows closed source loadable modules. In
practice it is very similar to the LGPL. A lot of the closed source
Linux stuff operates on this exception instead of outright violating the
license. I don't know how Rio does things, but it shouldn't be too hard
to use Linux in an embedded environment without having to actually
modify the kernel.

David


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