Comment by fsflover
9 hours ago
> And while Linus allows Linux to be open source.
Linus can't close the kernel. He would need to ask all contributors for a signed agreement for that. This is the benefit of GPL.
See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46177148
> GrapheneOS can use free drivers too. It literally is using Linux.
Except there is no device with free drivers that it supports. They just refuse to support Librem or Pinephone without a good reason. (I strongly disagree with their "security" arguments.)
> A benefit of open source is that you can fork it if upstream decides to stop development or go closed source
Android is already semi-closed (see this submission). Are GrapheneOS developers forking it? (No)
>Linus can't close the kernel.
That's not how it works. GPL only prevents old versions from becoming closed source. If Linus added code to the kernel which required a $100k license to redistribute then people could no longer freely distribute the code of the kernel. People could not freely distribute compile kernels because they would need that license. GPL doesn't magically make all licensing issues go away. He could also make a required kernel module that was not GPL licensed that Linux could require to operate.
>Except there is no device with free drivers that it supports.
Having a working system providing competitive value to others is much more important.
>They just refuse to support Librem or Pinephone without a good reason.
The good reason is that those devices can't provide industry standard security.
> GPL only prevents old versions from becoming closed source.
This is false, https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#LinkingWithGPL
> Having a working system providing competitive value to others is much more important.
I don't consider dependence on Google as "working for the users".
> The good reason is that those devices can't provide industry standard security.
Obeying Google is not "security", even if it's the industry standard.
Linus doesn't release a linked version of the kernel so that FAQ does not apply
>I don't consider dependence on Google as "working for the users".
Why not? They work more for users than other organizations that you would try and replace them with.
>Obeying Google is not "security"
I don't know what you are referring to.