Updating Genode's license to AGPLv3 + open-source linking clause

[Alexander Senier]

Thanks, Norman, for that well-structured review of the proprietary software issue.

One aspect came to mind that I don't see covered, thought. One some platforms, proprietary device drivers are mandatory even on Linux to get
certain functionality working. Think of popular 3D graphics cards as an example. The much I'd like to see open source device drivers all over
the place (as yourself, I belong to the pure-OSS users category), I'm pessimistic about that. Especially for complex 3D graphics we won't see
major vendors release open source driver, let alone proper documentation.

Still, it would be highly beneficial for any kind of user to have these proprietary binary-only drivers on Genode instead of other platforms. In
contrast to Linux kernel modules, we can run them as unprivileged users space process, set up IO virtualization etc.

(How) can proprietary binary-only drivers be included in the open source version of Genode under the new license scheme?

Cheers,
Alex

On 17.12.2016 16:37, Norman Feske wrote:
> Given this line of thinking, I hope that you agree that the ability to
> host proprietary applications on top of the open-source Genode system
> would not bring any tangible value. But maybe I have overlooked
> something? Please don't hesitate to share your thoughts.