Linux kernel is like 28mil lines of mostly driver and arch code. It’s open enough that you can basically use the code as it is to do what you please… There are limitations of course but the code is out there.

As it is the foundation and kernel ecosystem is seemingly pretty corporate friendly as it prob needs to be.

Are you worried that Linux might be attempted to be recooperated by capitalists somehow? It is a very valuable asset. I’m not sure how they could do it. Maybe they will try and make it more like corporate OSs… Or they will use their legal and sanctioning powers to prevent some people from using it how they would like.

  • ☭ 𝗚𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗘𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿 ☭
    6•2 years ago

    Not a fan of the Linux kernel containing proprietary code. There are FOSS-only variants (e.g. Linux-libre, or Debian’s kernel), but most distros don’t use them. On the other hand, the vast majority of hardware is also proprietary, and they could execute malicious code even on “libre” kernels.

    My main problem isn’t with the kernel itself, but the fact that Linux distros are being used to run proprietary code and that new users aren’t taught about FOSS. Last I checked, Ubuntu (still one of the most popular distros, AFAIK) allows users to install proprietary software in their “Software Centre”.

    What do you mean by “recooperate”? They can’t change the license of existing Linux code, and AFAIK they can’t make future code proprietary either, aside from drivers (etc.) that don’t need to link to the main GPL part of the kernel.

    • @holdengreen@lemmygrad.mlOP
      2•2 years ago

      I’m trying to express a growing mistrust I’m developing with that ecosystem. Others note that while contributing to it we are giving free labor… (although I haven’t done so yet) And speaking of the GPL, it is GPL2 and not GPL3 where GPL2 is more liberal. Which is more of a problem than you might expect. Yes it should prevent them from exercising proprietary control of it but it may also prevent us from protecting our labor…

      No I don’t think an attempt to make the code private is a major concern… But the bourgeois legal system that underpins our discussion of licensing and labor is a much bigger issue.

      I think this may be an ongoing decoupling concern.

      https://lemmygrad.ml/post/349820/comment/264681