Possibly offtopic : Binary only driver

[MJang]

Dear Stefan, 

On Sun, 2004-11-21 at 10:56 +0100, Stefan Sonnenberg-Carstens wrote:
> The problem is that the software depends on a piece
> of usb hardware which does some encrpytion.
> I get the driver by signing an NDA and therefor
> we can't release it openly.

I suspect the "correct" alternative is to set up a sourceforge project
for the USB hardware. A lot of them do reverse engineering of
proprietary drivers - if you sign the NDA, you'd need colleagues who do
not sign such NDA, and some firewall between you and them. Proper
configuration of such groups requires good legal advice. The alternative
is to go with a solution (e.g. see linuxant.com) which would "taint" the
kernel.

> The problem I have now, that the driver needs to be
> rebuild with every new kernel version, which is released.

I think this is a "joy" associated with all drivers not included in the
regular kernel or kernel modules.

> Is there a way to avoid that ?

I think the other answers you've received publicaly on this topic are
excellent.

Thanks,
Mike

> P.S.:
> I think many problems have such a problem,
> and I believe that Linux success in the customer world
> depends on solving such problems.

Great attitude - with more like you, we will overcome the monopoly.