"If somebody wants to port his SVR4 driver to linux but doesn't want to GPL it, I feel that he should have the right to do that, using modules. After all, the driver wasn't actually derived from linux itself: it's a real driver in its own right, so I don't feel that I have the moral right to force him to switch copyrights."
顯然地,Linus 認為"不必"公開LKM源碼。而這正也是有那麼多的硬體廠商,願意port driver 到 Linux 平台的誘因,如果一旦結果不是這個樣子,真的是著時打了這些熱情擁抱Linux HW廠商一巴掌。
然而,就像這篇些報告所指出,甚至連Linus也表示:
Well, it really boils down to the equivalent of "all derived modules have to be GPL'd". An external module doesn't really change the GPL in that respect... [T]here really is no exception. However, copyright law obviously hinges on the definition of "derived work", and as such anything can always be argued on that point. I personally consider anything a "derived work" that needs special hooks in the kernel to function with Linux (ie it is not acceptable to make a small piece of GPL-code as a hook for the larger piece), as that obviously implies that the bigger module needs "help" from the main kernel. Similarly, I consider anything that has intimate knowledge about kernel internals to be a derived work