Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2015 13:07:03 -0700 From: Jack Vogel <jfvogel@gmail.com> To: "K. Macy" <kmacy@freebsd.org> Cc: Vijay Singh <vijju.singh@gmail.com>, Hrishikesh Keremane <hr1sh1@yahoo.com>, "hackers@freebsd.org" <hackers@freebsd.org>, Garrett Cooper <yaneurabeya@gmail.com>, "net@freebsd.org" <net@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: GPL issues around OFED code in FreeBSD 9.1 Message-ID: <CAFOYbcmp%2BSVMjsm9knD8BxZ5Sk09RDGQ66Oko1E6t-zJY-d-Dw@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <CAHM0Q_NGttERk%2BmaOz9V5-FXD5krRcZ5zGLsqLG7ooTzmzAn0A@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>
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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. 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. Jack On Thu, Sep 3, 2015 at 12:07 PM, K. Macy <kmacy@freebsd.org> wrote: > On Sep 3, 2015 10:33 AM, "Vijay Singh" <vijju.singh@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > 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? > > That sounds bizarre since mellanox wrote the code and explicitly dual > licensed. > > 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). > > Nonetheless, if you're paranoid an audit is in order. > > Cheers. > > > > > On Mon, Aug 31, 2015 at 10:25 AM, Garrett Cooper <yaneurabeya@gmail.com> > > wrote: > > > > > > > > > On Aug 31, 2015, at 09:34, Hrishikesh Keremane via freebsd-hackers < > > > freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org> wrote: > > > > > > > > [Sorry for cross posting] > > > > > > > > Hi, > > > > > > > > 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. > > > > > > > > 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? > > > > > > > > Thanks in advance for your help. > > > > > > > > Please include me in your replies as I am not subscribed to these > lists. > > > > > > The OFED stack is BSD/GPLv2 dual licensed IIRC. the Mellanox import > might > > > have made it 100% BSD licensed though. > > > > > > 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. > > > > > > 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" > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > 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" >
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