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Upstream Linux Developers Take Aim At TUXEDO's Out-Of-Tree GPLv3 Drivers (www.phoronix.com)
submitted 1 day ago by pnutzh4x0r@lemmy.ndlug.org to c/linux@lemmy.ml
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A new patch series posted today to the Linux kernel mailing list would block kernel modules/drivers from TUXEDO Computers from accessing GPL-only symbols in the kernel.

TUXEDO Computers maintains a set of kernel drivers currently out-of-tree for their various laptops for additional functionality around power profiles, keyboard backlight controls, WMI, sensor monitoring, the embedded controller, and other functionality. They have said they want to eventually mainline these drivers but in the name of allowing for rapid hardware support they maintain them out-of-tree and ship them with their Ubuntu-based TUXEDO OS and also have the driver sources available via GitLab.

The issue at hand though is that these kernel drivers marked as GPLv3+ and that conflicts with the upstream Linux kernel code licensed as GPLv2. There was a commit to change the driver license from GPLv3 to GPL(v2) but was reverted by TUXEDO Computers on the basis of "until the legal stuff is sorted out."

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[-] eldavi@lemmy.ml 18 points 1 day ago

one of the awesome things about buying a linux laptop from a linux company like tuxedo is that you don't have to worry about things like this since they have paid developers who maintain their own distro to "take care" of things like this and buying one of these linux laptops has made my experience smooth and thought free as a mac user.

it's a double edge sword however: lemmy has taught me that smooth sailing with linux laptops keeps you unaware of the trouble that lurks beneath the surface and that's disconnected me from the general linux user experience and has gated me from understanding the common themes and problems they encounter; i've started a new linux build and this time i'm going to do it the same way everyone here does, with a windows laptop.

[-] bunitor@lemmy.eco.br 23 points 1 day ago

that's disconnected me from the general linux user experience

are we romanticizing having a broken system?

[-] that_leaflet@lemmy.world 2 points 23 hours ago

Preferably the drivers and quirks of the hardware would all be patched upstream so that you don’t need to use a distro with the fixes patched in.

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this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2024
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