From owner-cvs-src@FreeBSD.ORG Fri May 23 16:52:32 2008 Return-Path: Delivered-To: cvs-src@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.freebsd.org (mx1.freebsd.org [IPv6:2001:4f8:fff6::34]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id D121B106566B; Fri, 23 May 2008 16:52:32 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bms@FreeBSD.org) Received: from out2.smtp.messagingengine.com (out2.smtp.messagingengine.com [66.111.4.26]) by mx1.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8E3B18FC19; Fri, 23 May 2008 16:52:32 +0000 (UTC) (envelope-from bms@FreeBSD.org) Received: from compute1.internal (compute1.internal [10.202.2.41]) by out1.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4FC0410C6E0; Fri, 23 May 2008 12:52:27 -0400 (EDT) Received: from heartbeat1.messagingengine.com ([10.202.2.160]) by compute1.internal (MEProxy); Fri, 23 May 2008 12:52:27 -0400 X-Sasl-enc: fsRojsIYR+2neUqYUczy8tan955ebv3r7Fj3mTwYrcSS 1211561546 Received: from empiric.lon.incunabulum.net (82-35-112-254.cable.ubr07.dals.blueyonder.co.uk [82.35.112.254]) by mail.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 4A04F8D70; Fri, 23 May 2008 12:52:26 -0400 (EDT) Message-ID: <4836F649.9050006@FreeBSD.org> Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 17:52:25 +0100 From: "Bruce M. Simpson" User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (X11/20080514) MIME-Version: 1.0 To: Peter Wemm References: <200805220214.m4M2EYTM061847@repoman.freebsd.org> <20080521.211110.-749259186.imp@bsdimp.com> In-Reply-To: X-Enigmail-Version: 0.95.6 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Cc: cvs-src@freebsd.org, jb@freebsd.org, src-committers@freebsd.org, cvs-all@freebsd.org, "M. Warner Losh" Subject: Re: cvs commit: src/lib/libdwarf Makefile _libdwarf.h dwarf.h dwarf_abbrev.c dwarf_attr.c dwarf_attrval.c dwarf_cu.c dwarf_dealloc.c dwarf_die.c dwarf_dump.c dwarf_errmsg.c dwarf_errno.c dwarf_finish.c dwarf_form.c dwarf_init.c dwarf_loc.c ... X-BeenThere: cvs-src@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: CVS commit messages for the src tree List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 23 May 2008 16:52:32 -0000 Peter Wemm wrote: > The next point is that the Linux folks (including Linus) seem to > consider that making calls to the linux kernel causes your driver to > be a derivative, unless the API you're calling has been blessed as a > public interface. (To be fair, I can see the point for their specific > circumstances, but their interpretation of copyright seems to be quite > a stretch to me). > I wonder if the "netlink" API constitutes such a set of calls to the Linux kernel. I raise this matter because we've just grown multiple route table support, and it looks like we could use an API for that. If we can gain compatibility with other systems, that widens our appeal. Given that its developers had an informational RFC published, under the auspices of "an interface to IP service modules", I think that somewhat weakens the case that implementing an API constitutes a "derivative work". Such an interpretation of copyright seems equivocal, when one considers that the same group criticise Microsoft for not opening their APIs: "We want everyone to be able to play together, but only by our new set of rules". To which one can respond: surely curses came before ncurses? And surely routing sockets came before netlink? Etc ad nauseam.