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this post was submitted on 30 Aug 2023
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Linux
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This is why Linux will always struggle to be mainstream. They can't shake the grip of GPL. Forcing open source at gun point just alienates people.
The kernel isn't requiring the driver be GPL.
Nvidias driver straight up violated the license by talking to parts of the kernel it wasn't legally allowed to talk to, by shipping its own tiny open source shim to sit between the proprietary and open source parts they wanted to illegally have interoperate.
This is a case of nvidia straight up actually breaking the law with a literal hack. Prompting linux into implementing new security measures.
The shim module smuggles GPL-only kernel symbols into the non-GPL binary blob. Because the actual module using those symbols is not GPL compatible this violates the GPL license.
From Linus Torvalds mouth:
In short, nvidia is playing with "please sue me" button.
I'll add that to the list of reasons to hate nvidia.
The sad part is they are almost a monopoly