Hi,

As part of the Linux Foundation Technical board, we confront the issue
of closed source Linux kernel modules all the time, and we wanted to do
something that could be seen as a general "public statement" about them
that is easy to understand and point to when people have questions.

So, after working on this for a while, and asking some of the other
major contributors and maintainers of the kernel, what we have is below.

There is also a site at:
	http://www.linuxfoundation.org/en/Device_driver_statement
that contains a link to a statement from the Linux Foundation about this
topic, as well as some more descriptions and background information, and
a copy of the full statement as well.

I've also put a pretty pdf version at:
	http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/gregkh/lkm_position_statement/lkm_pos_st...
in case people want to print it out :)

If there are any kernel developers who want to add their names to this
statement, please let me know by private email and I will be glad to add
it.

thanks,

greg k-h

------------------------------

Position Statement on Linux Kernel Modules
June 2008

We, the undersigned Linux kernel developers, consider any closed-source
Linux kernel module or driver to be harmful and undesirable.  We have
repeatedly found them to be detrimental to Linux users, businesses, and
the greater Linux ecosystem.  Such modules negate the openness,
stability, flexibility, and maintainability of the Linux development
model and shut their users off from the expertise of the Linux
community.  Vendors that provide closed-source kernel modules force
their customers to give up key Linux advantages or choose new vendors.
Therefore, in order to take full advantage of the cost savings and
shared support benefits open source has to offer, we urge vendors to
adopt a policy of supporting their customers on Linux with open-source
kernel code.

We speak only for ourselves, and not for any company we might work for
today, have in the past, ...
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Just a sidenote: It would probably be nice to have this linked from the 
main LF page (News?), I don't seem to see it there ... ?

Thanks,

-- 
Jiri Kosina
SUSE Labs

--

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Yes, for some reason it hasn't shown up there, I don't know why.  I've
pinged them about this, but they might not be awake just yet :)

thanks,

greg k-h
--

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Do you think it might be a good idea to start a similar list, in the
form of a petition to manufacturers, for end users?  The hope would be
that the number of petitioners grow big enough to let us effectively
rebut the argument that nobody outside the developer community really
cares.

(Of course, the best way to rebut that argument would be for end-users
to vote with their feet, but for a lot of us, me included, that's not a
practical option.)

-- 
| G r e g  L o u i s         | gpg public key:         0x6D9E3E64 |
|  http://www.bgl.nu/~glouis |   (on my website or any keyserver) |
--

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The problem is exactly what you describe in your last sentence. Hardware
manufacturers are well aware of that and make no effort to provide correct
drivers when they (think they) have a monopoly in certain areas.

What would be needed would be a public list of alternative hardware for
known existing hardware. When big manufacturers will see their hardware
listed there in the "bad" column, with their small competitors on the
same line in the "good" column and with a lower price, they may start
to think a little bit. Also, small manufacturers could use this for
marketting purposes, because they would be listed as direct competitors
for other well-established products.

It should be made with notebooks too. It's a shame to see how you're
nearly forced to have an nvidia graphics card in a notebook nowadays.
It is needed to put a bad reputation to products which embed closed
hardware, and to give a good one to other ones.

If such a list is exhaustive and public, it may become a reference for
new buyers.

Willy

--

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That is Utopian, I fear.  For example, what notebook supports the
installation of alternative hardware?  Go to another notebook, you
suggest?  Easy said: when I was buying the machine on which this is
being written, the choice of notebooks with 1920x1200 displays (a sine
qua non as far as I was concerned) was _extremely_ limited.  (There
actually was an open-source driver for the video of the one I picked,
but I could never get it to work.)  Similar difficulties exist for a
lot of special-purpose hardware; viable alternatives are rare.  Your
proposed list could certainly help ferret out such rarities, but I
doubt that it would suffice to make the problem go away.  I suspect,
too, that it would be a beast to maintain, given the need to track all
the features of all the versions of all the hardware items that were
listed.

Then again, my proposed list (a parallel to Greg KH's developer list,
but for end-users) probably wouldn't suffice either.  But it would be
relatively easy to create, and if it got big enough, and if some
manufacturers were hesitating about going open-source, it might tip a
scale or two.

In another message on this list, Greg KH says he has no objection to my
proposal but doesn't want to do it himself (a reasonable position given
the workload he's carrying already).  I'll try to set something up and
will ANNOUNCE it here if I succeed.

-- 
| G r e g  L o u i s         | gpg public key:         0x6D9E3E64 |
|  http://www.bgl.nu/~glouis |   (on my website or any keyserver) |
--

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Yet, in non-mobile platforms, alternative hardware is sometimes an
option, and so the suggestion does have utility.  But it's use goes
beyond those situations, as it engenders a new mindset amongst
manufacturers, a mindset in which they have to play by our rules or lose
market share, and once they start doing that they'll find there's no
reason not to keep doing it.  Then, even mobile platforms will have a
full set of open drivers.

So I think a public list of alternative hardware is an excellent suggestion.
--

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I have no objection if anyone wishes to start such a list, just that I
don't want to do it myself :)

thanks,

greg k-h
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