Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1757505AbYJ3QN3 (ORCPT ); Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:13:29 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1757182AbYJ3QM2 (ORCPT ); Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:12:28 -0400 Received: from fmmailgate05.web.de ([217.72.192.243]:52082 "EHLO fmmailgate05.web.de" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1757173AbYJ3QM0 convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Thu, 30 Oct 2008 12:12:26 -0400 Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2008 17:12:02 +0100 Message-Id: <488915452@web.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 From: devzero@web.de To: =?iso-8859-15?Q?J=F6rn_Engel?= Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: how much license information inside the kernel ? Organization: http://freemail.web.de/ X-Provags-Id: V01U2FsdGVkX18NUjP49FRNmnuJK7qlQWvGoufXhopTiMKzNsJxak7aRx1xD v4DAOq+DxYQ7fofbXyfig7MuHsgNYM+0i5EzcCg9ODsTeb5jNQ= Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-15 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1646 Lines: 42 > On Thu, 30 October 2008 11:54:57 +0100, devzero@web.de wrote: > > > > i found that there is a LOT of repeating licensing information in the kernel. > > > > for me, > > > > find ./linux-2.6.27 -type f -exec cat {} \; |egrep "free software|GNU General Public License|Free Software Foundation|version 2 of the License|distributed in the hope|WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY|FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR" > > > > gives a file sized ~3.5M > > > > That`s more than 1% of the kernel source. > > Scary, isn't it? i?m not really scared, but it`s a really impressing amount. :) > One of the problems is that corporate lawyers require the full GPL > preample in any source file. As a result, a lot of developers inside > companies cannot publish code without it. Whether that makes any sense > is anyone's guess. But it doesn't cause much harm either, so better > leave the bloat where it is. i feared something like that. so, if it`s not just a common bad habit to add those lines again and again but something being forced by lawyers - it would indeed not being worth the effort to adress this, as you would need to review and discuss every single file containing those lines.... thanks for feedback roland __________________________________________________________________ "Run, Fatboy, Run" sowie "Rails & Ties" kostenlos anschauen! Blockbuster-Gutscheine sichern unter http://www.blockbuster.web.de -- 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/