Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S261267AbVDSVpZ (ORCPT ); Tue, 19 Apr 2005 17:45:25 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S261671AbVDSVpZ (ORCPT ); Tue, 19 Apr 2005 17:45:25 -0400 Received: from alog0252.analogic.com ([208.224.222.28]:16544 "EHLO chaos.analogic.com") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S261267AbVDSVpU (ORCPT ); Tue, 19 Apr 2005 17:45:20 -0400 Date: Tue, 19 Apr 2005 17:44:12 -0400 (EDT) From: "Richard B. Johnson" Reply-To: linux-os@analogic.com To: Chris Friesen cc: Lennart Sorensen , Karel Kulhavy , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: GPL violation by CorAccess? In-Reply-To: <42656319.6090703@nortel.com> Message-ID: References: <20050419175743.GA8339@beton.cybernet.src> <20050419182529.GT17865@csclub.uwaterloo.ca> <42656319.6090703@nortel.com> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1350 Lines: 36 On Tue, 19 Apr 2005, Chris Friesen wrote: > Richard B. Johnson wrote: >> >> Violation? They proudly reply in their article in >> http://www.linuxdevices.com >> that they use Linux, that they embedded a version >> of Red Hat, etc. >> >> It's likely that they didn't modify anything in the kernel and >> just used some stripped-down C-libraries to make everything fit. > > Right. They're distributing products licensed under the GPL, so > sections 3-a and 3-b of the GPL apply. > > Thus they can either a) accompany it with the source code, or b) > accompany it with a written offer to give any third party a copy of the > source code. > > Chris No. Accompany it with a written offer to __provide__ the source code for any GPL stuff they used (like the kernel or drivers). Anything at the application-level is NOT covered by the GPL. They do not have to give away their trade-secrets. Cheers, Dick Johnson Penguin : Linux version 2.6.11 on an i686 machine (5537.79 BogoMips). Notice : All mail here is now cached for review by Dictator Bush. 98.36% of all statistics are fiction. - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/