Quote:
Originally Posted by cynwulf
Yes I see your point and according to terms of the GPL, you're absolutely correct. But the Linux kernel containing code which is not licenced under the GPL-2 is still a fact. There is MIT code and dual MIT and GPL-2 code - and in both cases that code can be used/ported elswhere (as it it has been - e.g. as discussed: amdgpu), without "contamining" those projects with GPL.
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I didn't look at license of Linux kernel source files. Just a hypothesis.
I know that GPL 2 is a bit vague. Some people interpret GPL 2 in a way that allows statically or dynamically loaded libraries to be GPL-2 while program using them may be proprietary. Example of that is Oracle's OpenJDK project licensed on terms of GNU General Public License, version 2, with the Classpath Exception.
Given that Linux kernel have modules maybe GPL 2 license is an requirement for "core" of Linux kernel, but modules containing drivers may be licensed under more permissive license.