From: tzs@carson.u.washington.edu (Tim Smith) Subject: Re: What would people think of binary-only software on Linux? Date: 28 Feb 1993 05:10:38 GMT
bir7@leland.Stanford.EDU (Ross Biro) writes:
> 1) The Linux Kernel is covered by the GPL. That means that
>anything distributed as part of the kernel, or to be linked into the
>kernel must include an offer of source and no limit on the
>redistribution.
Not quite. If I were to make an object file, using tools not covered by
GPL, and I made that object file compatible with whatever object format
is needed for the Linux kernel, I don't have to distribute source
unless I'm actually distributing the kernel. If all I'm doing is selling
or giving out a floppy with my object files, GPL has nothing to do with
it.
--Tim Smith