Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1750754AbXICRSo (ORCPT ); Mon, 3 Sep 2007 13:18:44 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1751478AbXICRSi (ORCPT ); Mon, 3 Sep 2007 13:18:38 -0400 Received: from khc.piap.pl ([195.187.100.11]:35429 "EHLO khc.piap.pl" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751087AbXICRSh (ORCPT ); Mon, 3 Sep 2007 13:18:37 -0400 To: Daniel Hazelton Cc: davids@webmaster.com, espie@nerim.net, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: GPL weasels and the atheros stink References: <200709022257.54663.dhazelton@enter.net> From: Krzysztof Halasa Date: Mon, 03 Sep 2007 19:18:35 +0200 In-Reply-To: <200709022257.54663.dhazelton@enter.net> (Daniel Hazelton's message of "Sun, 2 Sep 2007 22:57:54 -0400") Message-ID: 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: 1795 Lines: 55 Daniel Hazelton writes: > Then go yell at Mr. Floeter. The code is dual-licensed and he put > BSD-License > only code in it. Because that's the *EXACT* *SAME* thing you're talking > about. Actually it is not. Dual BSD/GPL licence essentially means BSD, because rights given by BSD are a superset of these by GPL. You can legally take BSD code (or BSD/GPL, which is the same thing) and include it in GPL project (or even in closed source one). You can't legally take GPL code and include it in BSD project (or in GPL/BSD), because GPL forbids derivative works distributed under less (or more) restrictive licence than itself. Being distributed under GPL/BSD legally equals "pure" BSD (BSD allows restricting downstream, while GPL doesn't). If some file in Linux reads "GPL/BSD" then it's, in fact, under BSD licence. Crazy, isn't it? :-) The other thing is copyright notices. I think one can't legally alter someone else's licence conditions (in his/her name), unless something like that is explicitly permitted. However, we're talking about derivative works. A derivative work may be, for example, GPL-licenced: "Copyright (C) 1234 Joe the GPL lover licenced under the GPL as published" but could lawfully use code originally licenced under BSD: "Portions copyright (C) 1234 Bill the BSD lover originally licenced under no-ad BSD" Thus his (Joe's) work is GPL only, but Bill's licence notice is intact as required by it (BSD). IANAL, maybe you (all of us) should consult one if required. -- Krzysztof Halasa - 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/