Re: Is it illegal to distribute Linux kernel? KDE precedent.
On Jun 24, Brian Ristuccia wrote:
> On Thu, Jun 24, 1999 at 09:54:46PM +0200, Anonymous wrote:
> > My intense observation of GNU/Debian Linux Kernel with
> > grep -R "All advertising materials" * has shown drivers/net/bsd_comp.c,
> > drivers/net/hydra.h & include/linux/quota.h
>
> The situation with the Linux kernel is different than the situation with KDE
> because the network compression and quota drivers are modifications to the
> Linux kernel. KDE is not a modification to Qt.
>
> It is my understanding that :
>
> 1. Copying and modification of the Linux kernel was governed by the file
> commonly located at /usr/src/linux/COPYING
>
> 2. Contributors who add to or modify the Linux kernel have accepted the
> terms for modification as indicated by /usr/src/linux/COPYING. Otherwise,
> they would not have the right to modify the Linux kernel. These
> these changes could not exist in the first place if their contributors
> did not accept the license for making changes.
>
> 3. The Linux Kernel's license (The GNU General Public License) requires that
> all modifications be under the same license as the software being
> modified.
>
> so,
>
> 4. The files you mention, while they may themselves be covered by other
> licenses as noted in their respective source files, are covered by the
> GNU General Public License when distributed with the Linux kernel.
The situation with bsd_comp.c is that you can't compile it into the
kernel, but it can be used as a module. make config enforces this
policy, even though there's no technical reason why it can't be
compiled-in.
The other two files are header files; all they do is define an
interface, which to my understanding isn't "code" per se. I doubt
Linus would have allowed them in otherwise.
Chris
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