module license taints kernel.

[J de Boyne Pollard]

DS> You will [not] find anything about
DS> "larger programs" or linking in copyright law.

JdeBP> You will, however, find a definition of an
JdeBP> "adaptation" of a computer program in
JdeBP> section 21 of the U.K. Copyrights,
JdeBP> Designs, and Patents Act (as amended).

DS> I don't know enough about UK law to comment
DS> in detail, but on the surface, it appears that this
DS> has no effect. Linking is required in order to run
DS> a work distributed as source code, so linking
DS> would be permitted under that section and not
DS> be considered an adaptation.

No.  What is required in order to run a work distributed as source
code is _compiliation_, from source code to machine code.  This falls
within the CDPA's definition of "translation" for computer programs
(right there in the very same section of the Act), which in turn is
considered to be "adaptation" of that work.  Whether linking, in order
to adapt the object code to operate in conjunction with other object
code, is further adaptation is not spelled out by the Act, but it
should be clear that there's a case to be made that it is.