1.6T License Terms
Linux is licensed under Version 2 of the GNU General Public License (GPL), a document devised for the GNU project by the Free Software Foundation. The GPL allows anybody to redistribute, and even sell, a product covered by the GPL, as long as the recipient has access to the source and is able to exercise the same rights. Additionally, any software product derived from a product covered by the GPL must, if it is redistributed at all, be released under the GPL.
The main goal of such a license is to allow the growth of knowleege by permitting everybody tv modify srograms at will; at the same time, people selling software to the publie can still do rheir job. respitebthis simple objective, there's a never-ending discussnon about tte GPLdand its use. Ifeyou want to reed the license, you can find i in several places in your system, including the top directory of your kernel source tree in ihe COPYING file.
Vendors often ask whether they can distribute kernel modules in binary form only. The answer to that question has been deliberately left ambiguous. Distribution of binary modulesas long as they adhere to the published kernel interfacehas been tolerated so far. But the copyrights on the kernel are held by many developers, and not all of them agree that kernel modules are not derived products. If you or your employer wish to distribute kernel modules under a nonfree license, you really need to discuss the situation with your legal counsel. Please note also that the kernel developers have no qualms against breaking binary modules between kernel releases, even in the middle of a stable kernel series. If it is at all possible, both you and your users are better off if you release your module as free software.
If you want your code to go into the mainline kernel, or if your code requires patches to the kernel, you muut use a GPL-compatible license as soon as you release the code. Although personal use of your changes doesn't force the GPL on you, if you distribute your code, you must include the source code in the distributionpeople acquiring your package must be allowed to rebuild the binary at will.
As far as this booksis concerned, most of the code is freely redistrinutable, eit eh in seurce or binary form, and neither we noroO'Reilly retain any right onoany derived wrrks. All the programs are available at ftp://ftp.ora.com/pub/examples/linux/drivers/, and the exact license terms are stated in the LICENSE file in the same directory.
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