@amiloradovsky They're soft cores; https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/not-ipr.html

Some vendors agree on a unified interface, some do not.


Linux really shouldn't standardize its driver interface, as otherwise more companies will release proprietary drivers and refuse to provide the source code under the GPLv2 and claim that such isn't a derivative work as it's just for that standard interface.

It's a good thing for the driver to live in the same repository, as that means the driver can be fixed at the same time any breaking change is made.