Date: Tue, 23 Nov 2004 14:30:52 -0500 (EST)
From: linux-os <linux-os@chaos.analogic.com>
Reply-To: linux-os@analogic.com
To: Greg KH <greg@kroah.com>
cc: Johannes Erdfelt <johannes@erdfelt.com>, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [openib-general] Re: [PATCH][RFC/v1][4/12] Add InfiniBand SA
 (Subnet Administration) query support
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On Tue, 23 Nov 2004, Greg KH wrote:

> On Tue, Nov 23, 2004 at 09:52:46AM -0800, Johannes Erdfelt wrote:
>> On Mon, Nov 22, 2004, Greg KH <greg@kroah.com> wrote:
>>> To be straightforward, either drop the RCU code completely, or change
>>> the license of your code.
>>
>> Or compile against non-GPL RCU code, right?
>
> No.  RCU is covered by a patent that only allows for it to be
> implemented in GPL licensed code.  If you want to use RCU in non-GPL
> code, you need to sign a license agreement with the holder of the RCU
> patent.
>
> This was all covered a few years ago when the RCU code first went into
> the kernel tree.  See the lkml archives for details.
>
> So the very usage of RCU in the code is the issue here, not the fact
> that it is being linked against a GPL licensed header file.
>
> This isn't a GPL interpretation here, but a patent license agreement
> issue.  Sorry for not being clearer the first time around, I thought
> everyone was aware of this issue by now.
>
> thanks,

Not! RCU was implemented by MIT in 1975 under a grant from NASA.
A subsequent patent by Sequent is likely invalid because of prior
art. Further, IBM purchased Sequent, not SCO.

Remember, regardless of how many times a lie is repeated, it
never becomes true.

Cheers,
Dick Johnson
Penguin : Linux version 2.6.9 on an i686 machine (5537.79 BogoMips).
  Notice : All mail here is now cached for review by John Ashcroft.
                  98.36% of all statistics are fiction.
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