Re: Is it illegal to distribute Linux kernel? KDE precedent.

[Brian Ristuccia <brianr@osiris.978.org>]

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.

-- 
Brian Ristuccia
brianr@osiris.978.org
bristucc@nortelnetworks.com
bristucc@cs.uml.edu