removing your code from Linux tree

In the Kernel development list, there has been a discussion about the pwc drivers.

If you remember from my previous post about the PWC webcam driver for Phillips a some Logitech webcams has been discontinued.

Since the developer of such driver is demanding his code to be removed from the kernel tree, Alan Cox made a very interesting point.
Read bellow.


List: linux-kernel
Subject: Re: [linux-usb-devel] Re: Summarizing the PWC driver
From: Alan Cox XXXXXXXXXXXX
Date: 2004-08-29 13:40:00
Message-ID: <1093786799.27934.28.camel () localhost ! localdomain>
[Download message RAW]

On Sad, 2004-08-28 at 00:13, Oliver Neukum wrote:
> Keeping drivers against the wishes of the authors in the tree would
> be very troubling for the future. I can assure you that no maintainer
> will lightly pull a driver in this way.

Then the kernel community is no longer fit to use my code. So you should
remove everything I've written from Linus kernel too. I'll maintain my
own kernel.

Oh gosh, look I've just crippled Linus tree and stolen his project.
Thats *WHY* you can't just rip drivers out. A license was granted, for
ever. You can certainly remove him from maintainers, and if he insists
from the author credits.

Alan