from the libertarian newspaper - the topic that won't die! (Actually GPL)

[Luke -Jr]

On Wednesday 24 January 2007 16:06, Jonathan Hutchins wrote:
> I note that nVidia and ATI have been distributing Linux-compatible drivers
> for a while now, and they're not in court over it.

Because the copyright holders haven't wanted to test their relationship with 
nVidia/ATi. The fear is that there would end up being no drivers at all 
(which is better IMO).

> I don't use them, but from the discussions I've heard they get compiled
> locally, which strongly suggests that the source code is available, which
> would suggest to me that they're quit compatible with what I know of the
> GPL and open software.

The GPL is not compatible with everything open source. Either way, the only 
code compiled by the user is a small source code binding between Linux and a 
blackbox object file. Using internal data structures and functions from 
Linux, this binding is a derivative work of it, thus is required to be 
licensed under the GPL. Using internal data structures and functions from the 
incompatibly licensed .o blob, the GPL forbids its distribution.