From: Kyle Moffett <mrmacman_g4@mac.com>
To: Alexandre Oliva <aoliva@redhat.com>
Cc: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>,
Ricardo Galli <gallir@gmail.com>,
linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: GPL only modules
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2006 11:25:01 -0500 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <86C272DA-23BA-4901-994D-6CABCC87A2DE@mac.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <orwt4qaara.fsf@redhat.com>
On Dec 17, 2006, at 08:54:17, Alexandre Oliva wrote:
> On Dec 16, 2006, Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org> wrote:
>> Do you REALLY believe that a binary becomes a "derived work" of
>> any random library that it gets linked against? If that's not
>> "fair use" of a library that implements a standard library
>> definition, I don't know what is.
>
> Some disregard the fact that header files sometimes aren't just
> interface definitions, but they also contain functional code, in
> the form of preprocessor macros and inline functions, that, if
> used, do make it to the binary.
I would argue that this is _particularly_ pertinent with regards to
Linux. For example, if you look at many of our atomics or locking
operations a good number of them (depending on architecture and
version) are inline assembly that are directly output into the code
which uses them. As a result any binary module which uses those
functions from the Linux headers is fairly directly a derivative work
of the GPL headers because it contains machine code translated
literally from GPLed assembly code found therein. There are also a
fair number of large perhaps-wrongly inline functions of which the
use of any one would be likely to make the resulting binary
"derivative".
On the other hand, certain projects like OpenAFS, while not license-
compatible, are certainly not derivative works. The project was
created independently of Linux and operates on several different
operating systems, so even though it uses the very-Linux-specific
keyring interfaces under 2.6, no GPL licensing could possibly apply.
> The gray area between what is clearly permitted by a license and
> the murky lines that determine what constitutes a derived work, and
> what is fair use even if it's a derived work, is not for any of us
> to decide. The best we can do is to offer interpretations on intent
> of license authors and software authors, and of laws. Even though
> we're not lawyers or judges, such interpretations may be taken into
> account in court disputes.
I agree, and I think that this thread has outlived its useful life.
Cheers,
Kyle Moffett
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2006-12-17 16:25 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 59+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2006-12-16 18:27 GPL only modules [was Re: [GIT PATCH] more Driver core patches for 2.6.19] Ricardo Galli
2006-12-16 21:01 ` Linus Torvalds
2006-12-17 0:22 ` Ricardo Galli
2006-12-17 4:10 ` Theodore Tso
2006-12-17 13:54 ` GPL only modules Alexandre Oliva
2006-12-17 15:56 ` Ricardo Galli
2006-12-17 16:25 ` Kyle Moffett [this message]
2006-12-17 21:32 ` David Schwartz
2006-12-17 21:46 ` D. Hazelton
2006-12-18 15:47 ` Dave Neuer
2006-12-18 17:46 ` D. Hazelton
2006-12-18 21:01 ` Dave Neuer
2006-12-18 17:16 ` David Schwartz
2006-12-19 6:35 ` D. Hazelton
2006-12-19 16:39 ` David Lang
2006-12-18 19:41 ` Alexandre Oliva
2006-12-18 22:14 ` Christoph Hellwig
2006-12-19 3:42 ` D. Hazelton
2006-12-20 1:02 ` Alexandre Oliva
2006-12-20 23:28 ` Scott Preece
2006-12-17 17:59 ` Linus Torvalds
2006-12-17 22:45 ` Paul Mackerras
2006-12-18 6:50 ` Junio C Hamano
2006-12-18 23:16 ` Paul Mackerras
2006-12-18 15:38 ` Dave Neuer
2006-12-18 17:02 ` Theodore Tso
2006-12-18 17:23 ` Dave Neuer
2006-12-18 19:27 ` Alexandre Oliva
2006-12-18 19:42 ` Linus Torvalds
2006-12-18 20:37 ` Alexandre Oliva
2006-12-18 20:50 ` Linus Torvalds
2006-12-18 21:23 ` David Schwartz
2006-12-18 22:35 ` Scott Preece
2006-12-19 1:29 ` David Schwartz
2006-12-19 16:55 ` Scott Preece
2006-12-20 0:09 ` Alexandre Oliva
2006-12-20 0:06 ` Alexandre Oliva
2006-12-18 22:06 ` Jeff V. Merkey
2006-12-18 23:28 ` Alexandre Oliva
2006-12-19 1:35 ` David Schwartz
2006-12-19 2:38 ` D. Hazelton
2006-12-19 12:42 ` Horst H. von Brand
2006-12-20 0:20 ` Alexandre Oliva
2006-12-18 23:52 ` Paul Mackerras
2006-12-18 23:59 ` Linus Torvalds
2006-12-19 0:43 ` Paul Mackerras
2006-12-19 1:39 ` David Schwartz
2006-12-19 4:20 ` Daniel Barkalow
2006-12-20 19:14 ` David Schwartz
2006-12-20 23:08 ` Scott Preece
2006-12-20 23:26 ` David Schwartz
2006-12-19 7:39 ` Giacomo A. Catenazzi
2006-12-19 7:40 ` Giacomo A. Catenazzi
2006-12-19 8:00 ` Sanjoy Mahajan
2006-12-19 13:09 ` Horst H. von Brand
2006-12-19 17:27 ` Sanjoy Mahajan
2006-12-20 1:06 ` Alexandre Oliva
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2006-12-14 0:32 GPL only modules [was Re: [GIT PATCH] more Driver core patches for 2.6.19] Greg KH
2006-12-14 0:43 ` Jonathan Corbet
2006-12-14 0:55 ` Greg KH
2006-12-14 4:15 ` Linus Torvalds
2006-12-14 15:46 ` Jeff Garzik
2006-12-14 17:03 ` Linus Torvalds
2006-12-14 17:08 ` Chris Wedgwood
2006-12-14 17:38 ` Christoph Hellwig
2006-12-14 17:52 ` Chris Wedgwood
2006-12-14 18:09 ` Jan Engelhardt
2006-12-18 10:28 ` GPL only modules Eric W. Biederman
2006-12-14 18:15 ` GPL only modules [was Re: [GIT PATCH] more Driver core patches for 2.6.19] Eric Sandeen
2006-12-14 18:39 ` Chris Wedgwood
2006-12-14 19:42 ` Scott Preece
2006-12-14 19:34 ` Jeff V. Merkey
2006-12-15 5:28 ` GPL only modules Alexandre Oliva
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