Licencing of drivers/char/rocket.c ?

Licencing of drivers/char/rocket.c ?

[Adrian Bunk]

Hi,

could you clarify the licensing of drivers/char/rocket.c ?

<--  snip  -->

/*
 * RocketPort device driver for Linux
 *
 * Written by Theodore Ts'o, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000.
 * 
 * Copyright (C) 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2003 by Comtrol, 
Inc.
 * 
 * This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
 * modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as
 * published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the
 * License, or (at your option) any later version.
 * 
 * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but
 * WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU
 * General Public License for more details.
 * 
 * You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
 * along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
 * Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
 */
...
/***********************************************************************
                Copyright 1994 Comtrol Corporation.
                        All Rights Reserved.

The following source code is subject to Comtrol Corporation's
Developer's License Agreement.

This source code is protected by United States copyright law and 
international copyright treaties.

This source code may only be used to develop software products that
will operate with Comtrol brand hardware.

You may not reproduce nor distribute this source code in its original
form but must produce a derivative work which includes portions of
this source code only.

The portions of this source code which you use in your derivative
work must bear Comtrol's copyright notice:

                Copyright 1994 Comtrol Corporation.

***********************************************************************/
...

<--  snip  -->


The third paragraph of the second copyright notice doesn't seem to be 
compatible with the GPL.


Could you clarify this?


cu
Adrian

-- 

       "Is there not promise of rain?" Ling Tan asked suddenly out
        of the darkness. There had been need of rain for many days.
       "Only a promise," Lao Er said.
                                       Pearl S. Buck - Dragon Seed

Re: Licencing of drivers/char/rocket.c ?

[Theodore Ts'o]

On Sun, Nov 07, 2004 at 12:52:36AM +0100, Adrian Bunk wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> could you clarify the licensing of drivers/char/rocket.c ?
> 

I developed the Rocketport device driver under contract of Comtrol,
with the understanding that the resulting device driver would be
released under the GPL.  So I believe the correct way of resolving the
conflicting copyright statements is to delete the following lines.

It would be good to get positive confirmation from Comtrol as well
that this is their understanding as well.  Otherwise, we will need to
remove the Rocketport driver from the mainline Linux kernel.

						- Ted

> /***********************************************************************
>                 Copyright 1994 Comtrol Corporation.
>                         All Rights Reserved.
> 
> The following source code is subject to Comtrol Corporation's
> Developer's License Agreement.
> 
> This source code is protected by United States copyright law and 
> international copyright treaties.
> 
> This source code may only be used to develop software products that
> will operate with Comtrol brand hardware.
> 
> You may not reproduce nor distribute this source code in its original
> form but must produce a derivative work which includes portions of
> this source code only.
> 
> The portions of this source code which you use in your derivative
> work must bear Comtrol's copyright notice:
> 
>                 Copyright 1994 Comtrol Corporation.
> 
> ***********************************************************************/

Re: Licencing of drivers/char/rocket.c ?

[Theodore Ts'o]

On Tue, Nov 09, 2004 at 01:38:11PM -0600, Jason.Jorgensen@comtrol.com wrote:
> On Tuesday, November 09, 2004 10:58 AM, Theodore Ts'o <tytso@mit.edu> wrote:
>> I developed the Rocketport device driver under contract of Comtrol,
>> with the understanding that the resulting device driver would be
>> released under the GPL.  So I believe the correct way of resolving the
>> conflicting copyright statements is to delete the following lines.
>> 
>> It would be good to get positive confirmation from Comtrol as well
>> that this is their understanding as well.  
>
> You are absolutely correct. That notice slipped by us and should not be in
> there. 
> 
> If someone with access to the mainline source could remove that for us we
> would appreciate it. 

Signed-off-by: "Theodore Ts'o" <tytso@thunk.org>
Acked-by: Jason.Jorgensen@comtrol.com

							- Ted

--- 1.46/drivers/char/rocket.c	2004-10-21 13:03:21 -04:00
+++ edited/rocket.c	2004-11-10 12:49:44 -05:00
@@ -2453,30 +2453,6 @@
 }
 #endif
 
-/***********************************************************************
-		Copyright 1994 Comtrol Corporation.
-			All Rights Reserved.
-
-The following source code is subject to Comtrol Corporation's
-Developer's License Agreement.
-
-This source code is protected by United States copyright law and 
-international copyright treaties.
-
-This source code may only be used to develop software products that
-will operate with Comtrol brand hardware.
-
-You may not reproduce nor distribute this source code in its original
-form but must produce a derivative work which includes portions of
-this source code only.
-
-The portions of this source code which you use in your derivative
-work must bear Comtrol's copyright notice:
-
-		Copyright 1994 Comtrol Corporation.
-
-***********************************************************************/
-
 #ifndef TRUE
 #define TRUE 1
 #endif