Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1755687Ab1DAK4N (ORCPT ); Fri, 1 Apr 2011 06:56:13 -0400 Received: from mail-pz0-f46.google.com ([209.85.210.46]:56225 "EHLO mail-pz0-f46.google.com" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1755442Ab1DAK4L convert rfc822-to-8bit (ORCPT ); Fri, 1 Apr 2011 06:56:11 -0400 DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:date:message-id:subject:from:to :cc:content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=fw1kV7YeaH9v8poClQTf6SNhU42qdhktqozW2RTwVRINkL59+ZY7nVRlQxjJl+gboy ktCZwiiAsQN+G7kM4JAuqbdatlz1EWu7jdL7XyXu5twVV3h082K7fXuHY/bQhVD0G237 kosO9rtdYgLev7dhvGsriASeLEk6+lFvvwHlE= MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <20110331162438.3225d7a4@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> References: <20110331162438.3225d7a4@lxorguk.ukuu.org.uk> Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 16:26:11 +0530 Message-ID: Subject: Re: GPL License Query on a Plain Linux Application From: Ramya Desai To: Alan Cox Cc: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8BIT Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1543 Lines: 40 On Thu, Mar 31, 2011 at 8:54 PM, Alan Cox wrote: > 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. Dear Alan, Thanks for your valuable information. I got what I need. Thanks and Regards, Ramya. > > 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/