From owner-freebsd-net@freebsd.org Thu Sep 3 20:25:28 2015 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-net@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 1B4739C9C15 for ; Thu, 3 Sep 2015 20:25:28 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jeffm@frob.org) Received: from mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (mailman.ysv.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::50:5]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id F33EE279 for ; Thu, 3 Sep 2015 20:25:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jeffm@frob.org) Received: by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) id EDCD29C9C11; Thu, 3 Sep 2015 20:25:27 +0000 (UTC) Delivered-To: net@mailman.ysv.freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:1900:2254:206a::19:1]) by mailman.ysv.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D41CD9C9C0E for ; Thu, 3 Sep 2015 20:25:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jeffm@frob.org) Received: from server283.com (server283.com [64.14.68.91]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8DF87276 for ; Thu, 3 Sep 2015 20:25:27 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from jeffm@frob.org) Received: (qmail 28369 invoked by uid 503); 3 Sep 2015 20:18:46 -0000 Received: from unknown (HELO ?192.168.100.131?) (jeffm@98.203.199.57) by server283.com with ESMTPA; 3 Sep 2015 20:18:46 -0000 Mime-Version: 1.0 (Mac OS X Mail 8.2 \(2104\)) Subject: Re: GPL issues around OFED code in FreeBSD 9.1 From: Jeff Meegan In-Reply-To: Date: Thu, 3 Sep 2015 13:18:32 -0700 Cc: "K. Macy" , "net@freebsd.org" , Hrishikesh Keremane , "hackers@freebsd.org" , Garrett Cooper , Vijay Singh Message-Id: <7FF6BFC8-0031-4E40-AB38-75B5FD4EF466@frob.org> References: <5BFB9010-159A-44EE-BB9A-A4E445383AA2@yahoo.com> To: Jack Vogel X-Mailer: Apple Mail (2.2104) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Content-Filtered-By: Mailman/MimeDel 2.1.20 X-BeenThere: freebsd-net@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.20 Precedence: list List-Id: Networking and TCP/IP with FreeBSD List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Thu, 03 Sep 2015 20:25:28 -0000 According to their EULA, it is BSD licensed. 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 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 wrote: >=20 >> On Sep 3, 2015 10:33 AM, "Vijay Singh" 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 = >>> 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"