Date: Tue, 19 Jan 1999 11:56:17 -0700 (MST) From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: reg@shale.csir.co.za (Jeremy Lea) Cc: seth@pengar.com, freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG, lepreau@cs.utah.edu Subject: Re: Not so sinister. Message-ID: <199901191856.LAA09022@obie.softweyr.com> In-Reply-To: <19990119192936.D826@shale.csir.co.za> from Jeremy Lea at "Jan 19, 99 07:29:36 pm"
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
Jeremy Lea is alleged to have said:
>
> But you missed the point of the complaint. The GPL will not allow them to
> do this. If they want to use the GPL for their own code, then it forces
> them to use the GPL for their entire code base (whatever they are linking
> and packaging). They've misunderstood the terms of the GPL.
>
> To quote (from /usr/src/contrib/gcc/COPYING):
> " 2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion
> of it, thus forming a work based on the Program, and copy and
> distribute such modifications or work under the terms of Section 1
> above, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:
>
> a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent notices
> stating that you changed the files and the date of any change.
>
> b) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in
> whole or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any
> part thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third
> parties under the terms of this License."
>
> Read that last clause carefully.
I have. The BSD sources being distributed by Mr. Lepreau do not "contain"
the U of U extensions, nor are they "derived from" the U of U extensions.
The two may be comined to create an "aggregate work", which does not conflict
with the above licensing clause. This has been a standard interpretation of
the GPL for years.
Mr. Lepreau is well within his rights in both the Berkeley license and GPL to
distribute the code in this manner. In fact, the Berkeley license places NO
restrictions on redistribution, other than the requirement for proper
attribution; creating an entire distribution of BSD code under the GPL would
be allowable.
That said, I would still encourage Mr. Lepreau to reconsider his use of the
GPL virus; a Berkeley-style license is much more open and free, and better
encourages the use of the code.
--
Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
wes@softweyr.com http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr/ +1.801.915.2061
To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?199901191856.LAA09022>