From owner-freebsd-hackers Sat Aug 14 11:16:58 1999 Delivered-To: freebsd-hackers@freebsd.org Received: from lestat.nas.nasa.gov (lestat.nas.nasa.gov [129.99.33.127]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 8714714CA9 for ; Sat, 14 Aug 1999 11:16:44 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from thorpej@lestat.nas.nasa.gov) Received: from lestat (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by lestat.nas.nasa.gov (8.8.8/8.6.12) with ESMTP id LAA03708; Sat, 14 Aug 1999 11:14:20 -0700 (PDT) Message-Id: <199908141814.LAA03708@lestat.nas.nasa.gov> To: Mike Smith Cc: James Howard , Terry Lambert , Mark Tinguely , Hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: BSD XFS Port & BSD VFS Rewrite Reply-To: Jason Thorpe From: Jason Thorpe Date: Sat, 14 Aug 1999 11:14:20 -0700 Sender: owner-freebsd-hackers@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG On Sat, 14 Aug 1999 10:38:17 -0700 Mike Smith wrote: > > What the GPL does is require that full source for the program be included > > with the program, and that full source, in my example, would include > > a BSD-licensed XFS module. > > It also requires that the GPL be attached to that additional source > component. Go back and read section 3 of the GPL again. If you're referring to: 3. You may copy and distribute the Program (or a work based on it, under Section 2) in object code or executable form under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above provided that you also do one of the following: a) Accompany it with the complete corresponding machine-readable source code, which must be distributed under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above on a medium customarily used for software interchange; or, ...specifically "under the terms of Sections 1 and 2 above"... That certainly applies to "the complete corresponding machine-readable source code", but I think you'd be hard-pressed to apply it to individual source modules which themselves carry different license terms. Consider the following example... Let's say I e-mail you the source module linux/drivers/net/bsd_comp.c, which carries the following copyright notice and license terms: * Copyright (c) 1985, 1986 The Regents of the University of California. * All rights reserved. * * This code is derived from software contributed to Berkeley by * James A. Woods, derived from original work by Spencer Thomas * and Joseph Orost. * * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions * are met: * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the * documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. * 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software * must display the following acknowledgement: * This product includes software developed by the University of * California, Berkeley and its contributors. * 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors * may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software * without specific prior written permission. * * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE * IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE * ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE * FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL * DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS * OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) * HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT * LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY * OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF * SUCH DAMAGE. ...and you use that source in a product which is distributed binary-only. I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone to legitimately tell you that you'd be legally bound by the terms of the GPL by using that source module. > We've had this discussion before. Well, I think you came to the wrong conclusion :-) 'Course, you shouldn't take my word for it. I encourage you to speak to an attorney! I certainly do whenever I have questions regarding software licenses. -- Jason R. Thorpe To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-hackers" in the body of the message