Re: Modules support in Xen (WAS: Re: [ARM] Native application design and discussion (I hope))

From: George Dunlap <george.dunlap@citrix.com>
To: Volodymyr Babchuk <vlad.babchuk@gmail.com>
Cc: Stefano Stabellini <sstabellini@kernel.org>,
	Andrii Anisov <andrii_anisov@epam.com>,
	Ian Jackson <ian.jackson@eu.citrix.com>,
	Dario Faggioli <dario.faggioli@citrix.com>,
	Tim Deegan <tim@xen.org>, Xen Devel <xen-devel@lists.xen.org>,
	Julien Grall <julien.grall@arm.com>,
	Jan Beulich <JBeulich@suse.com>,
	Andrew Cooper <andrew.cooper3@citrix.com>,
	Wei Liu <wei.liu2@citrix.com>,
	Artem Mygaiev <joculator@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: Modules support in Xen (WAS: Re: [ARM] Native application design and discussion (I hope))
Date: Thu, 11 May 2017 18:20:37 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <CAFLBxZYpwHbOxr2Dh=Oiy=NzcUi5ZiNUBR1DN+WfU+57PDO4SA@mail.gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAOcqxo3Ogp1cp6qaOxTVetw7N9nOApyo5Vt78ODFm31muLmReA@mail.gmail.com>

On Thu, May 11, 2017 at 6:14 PM, Volodymyr Babchuk
<vlad.babchuk@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi George,
>
> On 11 May 2017 at 19:35, George Dunlap <george.dunlap@citrix.com> wrote:
>> Even better would be to skip the module-loading step entirely, and just
>> compile proprietary code directly into your Xen binary.
>>
>> Both solutions, unfortunately, are illegal.*
> Look, I don't saying we want to produce closed-source modules or apps.
> We want to write open source code. Just imagine, that certain header
> files have some proprietary license (e.g. some device interface
> definition and this interface is IP of company which developed it).
> AFAIK, it can't be included into Xen distribution. I thought, that it
> can be included in some module with different (but still open source)
> license.  But if you say that it can't... Then I don't know. It is out
> of my competence. I'm not lawyer also.

I see.  That's good to know, but it doesn't change the legal aspect of
things. :-0

It used to be held that the information contained in headers --
constants, interface definitions, and so on -- weren't copyrightable;
in which case you could just include the header (or a modified version
of it) without any problems.  Unfortunately Oracle v Google may have
changed that.  But you'd have to ask a lawyer about that...

 -George

_______________________________________________
Xen-devel mailing list
Xen-devel@lists.xen.org
https://lists.xen.org/xen-devel