On 6/14/07, David Schwartz <davids@webmaster.com> wrote:
quoted text
>
> And what about people who can't modify the Linux kernel? They don't know C.
> They don't know how to use a shell. They're not familiar with UNIX operating
> systems at all. Maybe they aren't smart enough to modify kernel code.

I learned C in part by modifying the Linux kernel and running the
modified kernel on hardware I own, and enabling precisely that kind of
tinkering is what the "spirit" of the GPL is about, as is quite plain
(to me) from the preamble.

quoted text
>
> The GPL is about having the legal right to modify the software and being
> able to put other people's distributed improvements back into the original
> code base.

I agree that is what the letter of the GPLv<3 is about.

quoted text
> It does not guarantee that you will actually be able to modify
> the software and get it to work on some particular hardware.

Please don't conflate my endorsement of the "spirit" of the GPL with
Alexandre's assertion that the GPLv2 forbids TiVOisation. I don't
agree with him. My point is that people arguing that the spirit of the
GPL doesn't revolve around the freedom of the end user to modify the
software *and* run modified copies seem to be missing the point. Linus
gets that, as he said in a previous message, he just doesn't
personally care about freedom defined that way.

Dave
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