The latest set of USB patches includes an unwelcome entry: the Philips webcam driver has been removed by its author's request. The issue is whether this driver can contain a hook for the insertion of a proprietary, binary-only module; when that hook was removed (due to licensing concerns) the author (Nemosoft Unv) decided to pull the whole thing. He has put up a web page describing his position on the matter. . . .
The latest set of USB patches includes an unwelcome entry: the Philips webcam driver has been removed by its author's request. The issue is whether this driver can contain a hook for the insertion of a proprietary, binary-only module; when that hook was removed (due to licensing concerns) the author (Nemosoft Unv) decided to pull the whole thing. He has put up a web page describing his position on the matter.

The driver, being licensed under the GPL, could be retained regardless of the author's wishes, but USB maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman has not taken that approach. Linus supports this decision: "I'd love to let people just continue using it. But the fact is, at least from my standpoint, I'd really hope that anything I had written would be used in ways I asked people to - regardless of license. Now, I don't usually get into hissy fits, but the point stands, and the golden rule is: do unto others as you would have them do unto you."