Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1758296Ab1CaPYI (ORCPT ); Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:24:08 -0400 Received: from earthlight.etchedpixels.co.uk ([81.2.110.250]:48692 "EHLO www.etchedpixels.co.uk" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-FAIL) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1758264Ab1CaPYE (ORCPT ); Thu, 31 Mar 2011 11:24:04 -0400 Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:24:38 +0100 From: Alan Cox To: Ramya Desai Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: GPL License Query on a Plain Linux Application Message-ID: <20110331162438.3225d7a4@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> In-Reply-To: References: X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.7.8 (GTK+ 2.22.0; x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) Face: iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAADAAAAAwBAMAAAClLOS0AAAAFVBMVEWysKsSBQMIAwIZCwj///8wIhxoRDXH9QHCAAABeUlEQVQ4jaXTvW7DIBAAYCQTzz2hdq+rdg494ZmBeE5KYHZjm/d/hJ6NfzBJpp5kRb5PHJwvMPMk2L9As5Y9AmYRBL+HAyJKeOU5aHRhsAAvORQ+UEgAvgddj/lwAXndw2laEDqA4x6KEBhjYRCg9tBFCOuJFxg2OKegbWjbsRTk8PPhKPD7HcRxB7cqhgBRp9Dcqs+B8v4CQvFdqeot3Kov6hBUn0AJitrzY+sgUuiA8i0r7+B3AfqKcN6t8M6HtqQ+AOoELCikgQSbgabKaJW3kn5lBs47JSGDhhLKDUh1UMipwwinMYPTBuIBjEclSaGZUk9hDlTb5sUTYN2SFFQuPe4Gox1X0FZOufjgBiV1Vls7b+GvK3SU4wfmcGo9rPPQzgIabfj4TYQo15k3bTHX9RIw/kniir5YbtJF4jkFG+dsDK1IgE413zAthU/vR2HVMmFUPIHTvF6jWCpFaGw/A3qWgnbxpSm9MSmY5b3pM1gvNc/gQfwBsGwF0VCtxZgAAAAASUVORK5CYII= Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1329 Lines: 31 On Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:49:34 +0530 Ramya Desai wrote: > Dear All, > > I have written an application where it uses plain system calls like > open, read, write etc. and runs in the user space. My question here, > is this application comes under GPL? This is a technical not a legal list - I would ask the Linux Foundation if you want a legal answer. In general though your question seems really to be "is my application a derivative work of the kernel". That would be a surprising interpretation (speaking as a non-lawyer) but also one the community wanted to be sure never occurred. Hence the COPYING file for the kernel itself states: NOTE! This copyright does *not* cover user programs that use kernel services by normal system calls - this is merely considered normal use of the kernel, and does *not* fall under the heading of "derived work". Also note that the GPL below is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, but the instance of code that it refers to (the Linux kernel) is copyrighted by me and others who actually wrote it. Alan -- 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/