Re: Binary only module overview

Dave McCracken (dmccr@us.ibm.com)
Mon, 24 Sep 2001 13:03:05 -0500


--On Monday, September 24, 2001 19:52:13 +0000 Petr Vandrovec
<VANDROVE@vc.cvut.cz> wrote:

>> > Yes, but the modules are not binary-only.
>> > The sourcecode is in the package, although it is not GPL.
>>
>> I believe they only provide source for an interface layer that can be
>> compiled against a specific version of the kernel. I think the core
>> drivers are binary only.
>
> VMnet and VMppuser drivers are completely standalone and can work
> without VMware. You can persuade VMmon module to load and execute
> arbitrary code on kernel level - it just provides virtual machine
> environment (switches CPU context), but as it even does not link to
> anything else, I do not see any problem here. DRI drivers also allows
> you to smash arbitrary piece of memory...
>
> As for license on these modules - I was under impression that they are
> under GPL, but I'll ask VMware for clarification.

As a couple of people pointed out privately to me, I was mistaken. VMware
does include the complete source to its drivers.

A quick check of the file headers shows a VMware copyright with no mention
of GPL. Granted, that's not definitive, but it's a data point.

Dave McCracken

=====================================================================
Dave McCracken IBM Linux Base Kernel Team 1-512-838-3059
dmccr@us.ibm.com T/L 678-3059

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