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Date:      Tue, 10 Apr 2007 11:11:18 +0200
From:      Ivan Voras <ivoras@fer.hr>
To:        freebsd-fs@freebsd.org
Cc:        freebsd-fs@freebsd.org, zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org, freebsd-current@freebsd.org
Subject:   Re: [zfs-discuss] ZFS committed to the FreeBSD base.
Message-ID:  <461B54B6.60404@fer.hr>
In-Reply-To: <20070407141736.GC4058@freebie.xs4all.nl>
References:  <20070406025700.GB98545@garage.freebsd.pl>	<Pine.SOL.4.64.0704052156560.26995@marrakesh>	<46177881.3090509@wcborstel.com> <20070407141736.GC4058@freebie.xs4all.nl>

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Wilko Bulte wrote:
> On Sat, Apr 07, 2007 at 12:54:57PM +0200, Jorn Argelo wrote..
>> Rich Teer wrote:
>>> This is fantastic news!  At the risk of raking over ye olde arguments=
,
>>> as the old saying goes: "Dual licensing?  We don't need no stinkeen
>>> dual licensing!".  :-)
>>>
>>> =20
>> First of all, thanks a lot for all the hard work of both the FreeBSD=20
>> developers as the ZFS developers. I can't wait to give it a go.
>>
>> That leads me to one question though: Why is *BSD able to bring it int=
o=20
>> the OS as where Linux has licensing problems with the CDDL? AFAIK Linu=
x=20
>> users can only run it in userland mode and not in kernel mode because =
of=20
>> the licenses.
>=20
> My guess(!) is that they do not want non-GPL-ed code in the standard ke=
rnel.

Sorry if I'm reiterating what someone maybe already explained, but I=20
don't see it on the lists I read:

FreeBSD can include GPL'ed code due to a "technicality" (literally): As=20
long as the code is in a separate kernel module and not in the default=20
shipped GENERIC kernel, it's considered "bundled" and not a part of the=20
kernel. As soon as the user loads a GPLed kernel module, presto-changeo! =

his kernel "automagically" becomes GPLed. I believe the same holds for=20
CDDL. (I have no idea how to resolve the licensing issues of a kernel=20
with both GPL and CDDL parts :) ). This is less inconvenient than it=20
seems since kernel modules can be (pre)loaded at the same time the=20
kernel loads, and so we can have a ZFS root partition, etc.

The problem with DTrace in FreeBSD is twofold:

1. It's much more intertwined with the kernel.
2. Much of its usability comes from it being available in the default=20
shipped kernel - so that users can use it to troubleshoot problems "on=20
the fly" without having to recompile and install a new kernel (involves=20
rebooting).

AFAIK (not involved with its development), most of dtrace can reside in=20
a kernel module but some parts need to be in the kernel proper to=20
support this mode of operation, and *this* is where the licensing comes=20
in. Just a few files (AFAIK: mostly header files!) need to be=20
dual-licensed so they can be included in the default kernel build, and=20
the rest can be in the CDDL licensed kernel module.



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