From owner-freebsd-chat  Tue Dec 18 11:48:14 2001
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Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2001 12:47:36 -0700
To: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com>
From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
Subject: Re: GPL nonsense: time to stop
Cc: Craig Harding <crh@outpost.co.nz>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG
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At 12:27 PM 12/18/2001, Terry Lambert wrote:

>No, it's not.  It's not in the boot path, and it's not in the
>required for installation path.

That's only one very restrictive definition of "in the kernel."
While it is true that the code is not loaded unless needed, this
is true of many integral parts of operating systems.

The GPLed code is compiled every time you compile the kernel and
is dynamically linked to it. (As you know, the FSF considers
dynamic linking to make two pieces of code a single unit.) The code 
is referred to in the kernel's internal tables as a part that can be 
loaded at will. The the kernel is fully aware that it can bring in 
the code in response to certain conditions just like any other driver 
or module. In short, the GPLed code is integrated. It is part of the 
kernel.

--Brett


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