Right - to be clear, Ubuntu has taken the steps of actually bundling the module in the kernel package itself but not compiling it into the image. My ask here is to have a separate zfs-modules-<KVER> package that is not bundled with the kernel (or the installer) automatically, avoiding tainting the kernel package (or any other package) with potential licensing issues. I don't think there should be any problems with even a very broad reading of the CDDL of shipping a prebuilt module in a separate package, which the end user can then choose to install. OpenZFS specifically doesn't use any of the GPL exports either, so to my understanding the zfs-modules-<KVER> package could be under the CDDL as well. -- Jarl Gullberg CEO & CTO Visar Systems AB +46 73 644 96 64 [email protected] https://visar-systems.com
"Petter Reinholdtsen" [email protected] – 15 februari 2026 kl. 15:14 > [Jarl Gullberg] > > Is this something that could be explored? > > As far as I know, the license picked by SUN Microsystems for the ZFS > implementation in Solaris, which was explicitly phrased to be > incompatible with the Linux kernel license and prohibits distribution of > combined works, if I remember correctly, is the blocker for this. It is > thus a legal risk involved in distributing prebuilt binary packages. I > am aware that Ubuntu have choosen to accept this risk and distribute > prebuilt binary packages anyway. I guess they feel their stock of > lawyers make this an acceptable risk. It is not obvious that Debian > have the required surplus of cash to take a similar risk. > > Note, I would love to be able to set up Debian with zfs on the root file > system with packages directly from the Debian archive, but have no idea > how to make it happen with the current legal constraints. > >
