Linus on Binary Kernel Modules

Submitted by jbreland on Thu, 12/14/2006 - 11:52

As found via Slashdot:

microbee writes: "On LKML's periodic GPL vs. binary kernel module discussion, Andrew Morton hinted that he favors refusing to load binary modules in 12 months. Greg Kroah-Hartman then posted a patch to do exactly that. Surprisingly Linus chimed in and called it 'stupid' and a 'political agenda,' and even compared it with the RIAA's tactics. Later in the same thread Greg withdrew his patch and apologized for not having thought it through."

Linus' post is a pretty good read on this debate. If you're unfamiliar with the topic, here is a brief overview. My personal take is that FOSS drivers are definitely the way to go, but being able to actually use my hardware takes precedence. If no viable (or comparable) FOSS driver exists, then I'd rather use a binary driver then simply not have full use of my hardware.

Anyway, as I said, it's a pretty interesting read. Here's a full link to Linus' post:

http://lkml.org/lkml/2006/12/13/370