obobskivich |
06-23-2022 01:42 AM |
Quote:
Originally Posted by kernelhead
(Post 6362766)
Since Mac OS X is Unix based, it was my understanding that a Unix distro could be made closed source - as Apple did.
About Linux. I'm just trying to understand it, and for conversation sake. Someone tell me about "modules." Is the Linux "kernel" itself, legally, always suppose to be open source. Are modules, things like drivers, do modules work outside the kernel and thus can be made to be closed source - is this is what Google does with Android?
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Right - you've basically got it, as business_kid and ondoho point out the Linux kernel (and BSD kernel) are FOSS, but components that can run on them may not be. Note that 'UNIX' itself was closed source (as it came from AT&T), and that Linux (and BSD) are the open source variants. There's plenty of closed UNIX platforms in history (like IRIX, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, etc), as well as 'hybrid' platforms like OS X or the Linux distros that run most Blu-ray players (both of which contain FOSS components in their kernel, but have a lot of userland stuff, APIs, etc that is not FOSS). What Google is doing with Android is not unique - the practice was known as 'tivoization' at one time (you can read more about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TiVo#G...nd_Tivoization), which is common with consumer electronics device that use the Linux kernel but provide their own proprietary/locked-in libraries and userland + locked bootloaders (in many cases these restrictions are part of the vendor's licence with the codec/standards body (which is usually a media company) that they go get a licence from, e.g. to play Blu-ray or support cablecards). Just running closed-source software on top of a FOSS base does not by itself make the entire distro 'closed' - so for example you can run Steam and various games on Linux, which are closed-source, but the base is still FOSS. Some distros also contain non-libre components that are either provided at no charge, or are considered a 'paid' portion of the OS* - it's complicated at the end of the day. As openbsd98324 points out, there are also distros that attempt to run entirely on FOSS/libre software, if that's something you need or want.
* Since you specifically mentioned drivers, the nvidia driver is an example of this: the core of those drivers is non-FOSS (as in the source is not available) but nvidia distributes it freely (as in does not charge money for it) and provides documentation for building it on various distros. Recently they've announced plans to shift to a FOSS model, like Intel and AMD use, but time will tell how that works out.
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