On Thu, Jun 24, 1999 at 06:33:30PM -0400, Brian Ristuccia wrote: I was going to stay out of this thread considering that the obvious intent of our Anonymous friend was to either cause Debian to distribute KDE with license flaws and all (since s/he clearly does not want Debian to simply stop existing (as would be the case if we couldn't distribute a kernel)) or at the very least start another flamewar.... However, I feel I must now join into the fray... > 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 Correct. > 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. Not necessarily. The GPL says in part: 10. If you wish to incorporate parts of the Program into other free programs whose distribution conditions are different, write to the author to ask for permission. The upshot of this is that whatever the Copyright holders or their representatives say is allowed in addition to the premission granted in the GPL is acceptable. Who is the representative of the kernel developers? I'll give you one guess, but I'm not supposed to give it away by telling you that his name is Linus Torvalds.... The most obvious example of non-GPL code in the kernel is bsd_comp, the BSD compression modules for ppp. Essentially, this module is similar to an application under the BSD license trying to use a GPL library---which the FSF says the GPL does not itself allow. So you have this BSD module and you want to use it with the GPL kernel and be able to distribute the binaries. You ask Linus and he tells you that this is fine, as long as the BSD code is not compiled in to the kernel itself. You now have all the permission you need to distribute a binary of bsd_comp--provided it's not compiled in to the kernel. He's also accepted the module as part of the kernel tree, though it still may only be built as a module. In fact Linus has given blanket permission for anything which is linked with the kernel dynamically (ie applications, libraries, kernel modules) to not be under the GPL. Arguably if dynamic linking is not considered fair use (debatable, however given case history of Copyright law as it applies to software, a lot of things that SHOULD be fair use have been determined to come under Copyright protections so don't count on it) then NOTHING could be distributed in binary form if it weren't GPL without such permission. I'd have to hazard a guess that such a determination made by a court would not terribly upset Richard, though lots of things in main and all of the things in contrib and non-free would suddenly become not distributable by us, just like KDE. I don't know about you, but I think Linux would SUCK without inetd, ftp, telnet, etc.. > 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. Unless other arrangements have been made, correct. > 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. This is the problem----the BSD code is NOT GPL compatible. And the people who wrote the module based on the BSD code can't change the BSD license. -- Joseph Carter <knghtbrd@debian.org> Debian GNU/Linux developer PGP: E8D68481E3A8BB77 8EE22996C9445FBE The Source Comes First! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- * Culus thinks we should go to trade shows and see how many people we can kill by throwing debian cds at them
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