Re: Compiling kernel modules (was Re: 2 questions)

On Wed, Nov 12, 2003 at 10:49:50AM -0500, Charlie Brady wrote:
> The easiest way to end up with a module which will load and work is just
> to run "make" in the powerswitch directory after you untar the source.  
> RedHat have tweaked the kernel source so that you get compile options set
> to build modules which exactly match your running kernel (google for
> MODVERSIONS to find out exactly how this works). That'll work for you in
> this case, but makes it much harder to build modules to match kernels or
> architectures other than the build machine and its running kernel.

Right.  I saw the note accompanying the freeswan modules, saying that
there were problems with auto-selection.  Sounds as if it would be
difficult to distribute a powerswitch rpm as anything other than a
source rpm.

> I've knocked up a spec file for building RPMs, but I notice that the
> powerswitch source tarball does not come with any license. This means that
> I cannot redistribute the source (and neither can you), nor build binaries
> RPMs and distribute them. It would be breach of copyright if we did.

I talked about that to Joris and he said:

"I believe there is a line in the README file which states that it can
be used and copied freely. That should make it quite clear that it is
allowed to distribute the code.  I used to like the GPL a lot, but I'm a
bit disappointed about the way it's being used lately (making certain
kernel symbols only visible to GPL modules etc)."

The documentation with version 1.5 says "This program is freeware; you
may use, modify and/or distribute it without restriction."  That's
unambiguous enougn, I think.

> 
> Please contact the author and ask him to rebundle the source code with a
> free license (preferably GPL, which we are certain is compatible with the
> linux kernel license). Let me know when he has done so and I will build
> and publish my RPMs.

Ah, that would be good.  I'll look forward to inspecting the source rpm
to see how I should have done it.

-- 
Bruce

Bitterly it mathinketh me, that I spent mine wholle lyf in the lists
against the ignorant.  -- Roger Bacon, "Doctor Mirabilis"

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