Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1422785AbWA1Bqn (ORCPT ); Fri, 27 Jan 2006 20:46:43 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1422786AbWA1Bqn (ORCPT ); Fri, 27 Jan 2006 20:46:43 -0500 Received: from smtp.osdl.org ([65.172.181.4]:41891 "EHLO smtp.osdl.org") by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1422785AbWA1Bqm (ORCPT ); Fri, 27 Jan 2006 20:46:42 -0500 Date: Fri, 27 Jan 2006 20:46:08 -0500 (EST) From: Linus Torvalds To: Al Viro cc: Simon Oosthoek , "linux-os (Dick Johnson)" , Kyle Moffett , Marc Perkel , "Jeff V. Merkey" , Patrick McLean , Stephen Hemminger , linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: GPL V3 and Linux - Dead Copyright Holders In-Reply-To: <20060127133939.GU27946@ftp.linux.org.uk> Message-ID: References: <43D13B2A.6020504@cs.ubishops.ca> <43D7C780.6080000@perkel.com> <43D7B20D.7040203@wolfmountaingroup.com> <43D7B5C4.5040601@wolfmountaingroup.com> <43D7D05D.7030101@perkel.com> <43D9F9F9.5060501@ti-wmc.nl> <20060127133939.GU27946@ftp.linux.org.uk> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1007 Lines: 25 On Fri, 27 Jan 2006, Al Viro wrote: > > Bzzert. "GPLv2 only in the context of the Linux kernel" is incompatible > with GPLv2 and means that resulting kernel is impossible to distribute. Indeed. The GPL (both v2 and v3) disallow restricting usage. So certain _code_ can be either v2 or v3 only, but you can't make that decision based on how the code is used. So you can't license, for example, your code "udner the GPL only for the Linux kernel". Trust me, some companies have actually wanted to do exactly that - they wanted to distribute their code, but _only_ for the kernel (and you'd not be allowed to use it for any other GPL'd project). That just cannot fly. It's either GPL, or it isn't. There's no "GPL with the following rules". Linus - 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/