Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1752162AbZL3Ii2 (ORCPT ); Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:38:28 -0500 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1752003AbZL3Ii2 (ORCPT ); Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:38:28 -0500 Received: from chello212186124096.11.vie.surfer.at ([212.186.124.96]:59259 "EHLO wiesinger.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1751042AbZL3Ii1 (ORCPT ); Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:38:27 -0500 X-Greylist: delayed 376 seconds by postgrey-1.27 at vger.kernel.org; Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:38:27 EST Date: Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:31:35 +0100 (CET) From: Gerhard Wiesinger To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: ESX Server - GPL violation - found proof !?! Message-ID: User-Agent: Alpine 2.00 (LFD 1167 2008-08-23) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; format=flowed; charset=US-ASCII X-MailScanner-Information-wiesinger-com: Please contact the ISP for more information X-wiesinger-com-MailScanner-ID: nBU8VZrp021385 X-MailScanner-wiesinger-com: Found to be clean X-MailScanner-SpamCheck-wiesinger-com: not spam, SpamAssassin (not cached, score=-3.668, required 4.5, ALL_TRUSTED -1.80, AWL -0.66, BAYES_00 -2.60, PLING_QUERY 1.39) X-MailScanner-From: lists@wiesinger.com Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1782 Lines: 44 Hello, After looking for Buslogic VMWare docs I found the following: There were often rumors that ESX server is based on Linux GPL code. I think I've found a prove for it from an official VMWare/EMC document (just save the PDF document for reference): http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx_15_manual.pdf p.269: ESX Server's Mylex (Buslogic) driver is based on the Linux BusLogic version 2.1.15 driver. p.270: The ESX Server uses two different drivers to support the device family, one based on the Linux ncr53c8xx version 3.4.3b driver and the other on the sym53c8xx version 1.7.3 driver. More clearly stated that ESX SERVER is based on Linux driver GPL code and therefore ESX Server is derived work of Linux GPL v2 code and therefore the WHOLE ESX SERVER has to be put under GPL v2 (even when run as userland program of a Linux kernel, because the ESX source/driver depends on the Linux kernel and Linux GPL code is linked). This is at least valid for VMWare ESX server 1.5. Any comments? Any plans? Ciao, Gerhard Wiesinger -- http://www.wiesinger.com Some references: http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/08/19/the-linux-kernel-binary-modules-and-esx-server/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/16/vmware_derived_from_linux/ http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/14/1618241 http://communities.vmware.com/thread/98813?start=15&tstart=0 http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_infrastructure_3/3_5#open_source http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_vsphere_4/4#open_source -- 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/