of ESXi.  Vmklinux does not allow reuse of unmodified Linux drivers in

  binary or source form.  Christoph further points out that if the Court

  allows proprietarization of an arbitrary split portion of GPL'd computer

  programs, it could allow redistributors to trivially bypass the strong

  copyleft terms found in the GPL.  Finally, the response explains that

  vmkernel and vmklinux don't “communicate over an interface”,

  rather they run in the same process as a single computer program.  Thus,

  VMK API, as used by vmklinux, is not an “interface” as set

  forth in

  the <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32009L0024&from=EN">EU

      Directive 2009/24/EC</a>.</dd>

  their kernel?</dt>

  <dd>

  <p id="diagram">

    Conservancy prepared this diagram to show the technical situation as we

    understand it.  The diagram compares the technical architecture of a full,

    running Linux kernel with a full, running VMware kernel:

    <p>

      <a href="/linux-compliance/linux-vs-vmkernel_en.png">

    <img class="inside-faq" alt="[Diagram of Linux and VMware running kernels]" src="/linux-compliance/linux-vs-vmkernel_en_scaled.png" /></a>

    </p>