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> Linux using GPL wasn't such a big problem for the corps, as the Linux developers stated the syscall interface is the GPL boundary.

That is fine for creating applications. It still required drivers and other things that expose syscalls to be open and GPLed.

> Even if Linux were permissively licensed,

The tainted kernel was the attack on the GPL itself i talked about. After tainted kernel, it is pretty much NOT-GPL, hence the devs gave in to a more permissive license while still calling it GPL. So the rest of the point is moot. Linux kernel DID adopt a permissive license, which is the reason we do not have proper open source android today.

> But given the more or less total lack of adoption

chicken and egg problem. But that is *exactly* the argument against GPL for the kernel in the past.




> But that is exactly* the argument against GPL for the kernel in the past.*

Since you bring that up, could you give some good link for reading about it?


I tried to google for you planning to hit the very first result and mock you. I will admit my shame.

To my surprise, despite this controversy being bigger than the systemd one recently, it mostly happened on mailing lists and other non-public forums!

I wonder if anyone collected all that history.

most of the public materials of the time are diatribes by non-coders: https://books.google.com/books?id=GlAEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA90&dq=gp...




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