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Date:      Thu, 3 Sep 2015 13:18:32 -0700
From:      Jeff Meegan <jeffm@frob.org>
To:        Jack Vogel <jfvogel@gmail.com>
Cc:        "K. Macy" <kmacy@freebsd.org>, "net@freebsd.org" <net@freebsd.org>, Hrishikesh Keremane <hr1sh1@yahoo.com>, "hackers@freebsd.org" <hackers@freebsd.org>, Garrett Cooper <yaneurabeya@gmail.com>, Vijay Singh <vijju.singh@gmail.com>
Subject:   Re: GPL issues around OFED code in FreeBSD 9.1
Message-ID:  <7FF6BFC8-0031-4E40-AB38-75B5FD4EF466@frob.org>
In-Reply-To: <CAFOYbcmp%2BSVMjsm9knD8BxZ5Sk09RDGQ66Oko1E6t-zJY-d-Dw@mail.gmail.com>
References:  <5BFB9010-159A-44EE-BB9A-A4E445383AA2@yahoo.com> <C0A50BDF-6AD3-4006-B954-66385F8DACD0@gmail.com> <CALCNsJT-XLY2MpxOs4Ls=GLX8r16bBXyMjUU4Nnj%2BwXRBcwidA@mail.gmail.com> <CAHM0Q_NGttERk%2BmaOz9V5-FXD5krRcZ5zGLsqLG7ooTzmzAn0A@mail.gmail.com> <CAFOYbcmp%2BSVMjsm9knD8BxZ5Sk09RDGQ66Oko1E6t-zJY-d-Dw@mail.gmail.com>

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According to their EULA, it is BSD licensed.

http://www.mellanox.com/page/mlnx_ofed_eula?mtag=3Dlinux_sw_drivers =
<http://www.mellanox.com/page/mlnx_ofed_eula?mtag=3Dlinux_sw_drivers>;

=E2=80=94j

> On Sep 3, 2015, at 1:07 PM, Jack Vogel <jfvogel@gmail.com> wrote:
>=20
> We (meaning Intel when I was still there) raised this issue with =
George a
> long time ago, I'm not sure
> what the resolution was.
>=20
> If Mellanox is the owner then they should have released the code =
somewhere
> without any
> GPL license in it, as Intel does with code they multi-license.
>=20
> Jack
>=20
>=20
> On Thu, Sep 3, 2015 at 12:07 PM, K. Macy <kmacy@freebsd.org> wrote:
>=20
>> On Sep 3, 2015 10:33 AM, "Vijay Singh" <vijju.singh@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>=20
>>> Someone told me that once the OFED code hit kernel.org the GPL is =
the
>> only
>>> license that applies. Does anyone have insights about that?
>>=20
>> That sounds bizarre since mellanox wrote the code and explicitly dual
>> licensed.
>>=20
>> The problem you *do* run in to is code creep. The Linux internal =
interfaces
>> are almost certainly totally undocumented, so a clean room =
reimplementation
>> as they change or bugs get fixed - changing behaviors - is not =
possible.
>> Over time the tendency is to copy and paste from Linux to OFED or the =
shim
>> layer creating real ambiguity about provenance. In practice it's not =
so
>> much of a problem because Linus tends to adhere to an interpretation =
of the
>> GPLv2 that is not vendor unfriendly the way some of his lieutenants =
would
>> prefer (see Greg's efforts to call closed source drivers derived =
works).
>>=20
>> Nonetheless, if you're paranoid an audit is in order.
>>=20
>> Cheers.
>>=20
>>>=20
>>> On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 10:25 AM, Garrett Cooper =
<yaneurabeya@gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>=20
>>>>=20
>>>>> On Aug 31, 2015, at 09:34, Hrishikesh Keremane via freebsd-hackers =
<
>>>> freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org> wrote:
>>>>>=20
>>>>> [Sorry for cross posting]
>>>>>=20
>>>>> Hi,
>>>>>=20
>>>>> We are working on a product(FreeBSD based) that would require RDMA
>> over
>>>> iWARP and are considering using the OFED stack in FreeBSD 9.1.
>>>>> We will be making some changes to the OFED stack to customize it =
to
>> our
>>>> requirements.
>>>>>=20
>>>>> The concern is regarding the implications of GPL licensing of OFED =
on
>>>> our code base.
>>>>> Has anyone worked with OFED in FreeBSD and/or is aware of the
>> licensing
>>>> issues around it?
>>>>>=20
>>>>> Thanks in advance for your help.
>>>>>=20
>>>>> Please include me in your replies as I am not subscribed to these
>> lists.
>>>>=20
>>>> The OFED stack is BSD/GPLv2 dual licensed IIRC. the Mellanox import
>> might
>>>> have made it 100% BSD licensed though.
>>>>=20
>>>> There's FreeBSD-infiniband@freebsd.org as well. It's a low traffic
>> list,
>>>> but it might hit a better target audience in the future.
>>>>=20
>>>> Cheers,
>>>> -NGie
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> freebsd-net@freebsd.org mailing list
>>>> https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-net
>>>> To unsubscribe, send any mail to =
"freebsd-net-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
>>>>=20
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org mailing list
>>> https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-hackers
>>> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "
>> freebsd-hackers-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
>> _______________________________________________
>> freebsd-net@freebsd.org mailing list
>> https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-net
>> To unsubscribe, send any mail to =
"freebsd-net-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"
>>=20
> _______________________________________________
> freebsd-net@freebsd.org mailing list
> https://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-net
> To unsubscribe, send any mail to "freebsd-net-unsubscribe@freebsd.org"




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