Date: Wed, 19 Dec 2001 20:51:05 -0800 From: Dave Walton <dwalton@acm.org> To: Jonathan Lemon <jlemon@flugsvamp.com> Cc: "Gary W. Swearingen" <swear@blarg.net>, Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: GPL nonsense: time to stop Message-ID: <20011219205105.4bcbe4f5.dwalton@acm.org>
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You wrote: > The concept (to me anyway) is simple: > > 1. There exists a GPL encumbered source. Call this A. > 2. I have some pure BSD kernel sources. Call this B. > 3. Make a copy of the BSD code. > cp -R /usr/src /usr/src2. Call this C. > 3'. (optional) Move copy C far away (into another universe) > 4. Add GPL code A to BSD code C. > > Now, by my logic, and my reading of the GPL, yes, the resulting product which > contains 'A' and 'C' is now under the GPL, and so copy C automatically falls > under the GPL too. > > BUT! > > Copy B is _NOT_ under the GPL. This is where we appear to differ. I reject > the notion that because it is possible in some universe to combine BSD + GPL'd > code, that it automatically forces all other copies of the BSD code to fall > under the GPL. Then, in fact, you agree with Gary and Brett, and have stated their case quite neatly. They do not claim that all existing copies are GPL'd, only that the distributed copies (code 'C') are GPL'd in their entirety. If that logic holds (and there is some risk of that, since the GPL is such a confusing mess), then I can buy a FreeBSD CD-ROM, spew the GPL all over the files, and rerelease it as the new, GPL'd, GNU/BSD. No, that does not affect the CVS repository (code 'B'), but it is certainly very undesireable. I don't know how large the risk is but it is surely worth being quite paranoid about. Dave -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Walton dwalton@acm.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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