依據林誠夏顧問的大作，｢GPL 條款對於衍生程式的判定標準與其授權拘束性的擴散範圍｣ ( www.openfoundry.org/tw/legal-column-list/8447-the-license-inheritance-bounds-of-gnu-gpl-02)，動態連結的Linux Kernel Module要進入最後一階段的判斷：GPL 授權元件是否在專案中扮演重要的角色。多數的Kernel Module都有使用Linux Kernel提供的API (memory management, process management, or io processing等等)，會算是符合"GPL 授權元件在專案中扮演重要的角色"嗎?

Kernel Module多是增強Linux Kernel的功能，像是增加對硬體的支援，增加一種檔案系統，或是增加一種演算法，本身有獨立性，但卻又是附屬於Kernel的部分，到底如何判定其獨立性或衍生性？是否過去有案例可參考？

底下複製自en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License，關於獨立性的說明，以供參考：

Where's the line between two separate programs, and one program with two parts? This is a legal question, which ultimately judges will decide. We believe that a proper criterion depends both on the mechanism of communication (exec, pipes, rpc, function calls within a shared address space, etc.) and the semantics of the communication (what kinds of information are interchanged).

If the modules are included in the same executable file, they are definitely combined in one program. If modules are designed to run linked together in a shared address space, that almost surely means combining them into one program.

By contrast, pipes, sockets and command-line arguments are communication mechanisms normally used between two separate programs. So when they are used for communication, the modules normally are separate programs. But if the semantics of the communication are intimate enough, exchanging complex internal data structures, that too could be a basis to consider the two parts as combined into a larger program.

依上述紅字部分定義，Kernel Module是否可能落入與Kernel相依性過高，而不被視為"獨立"？

感謝解惑!!