On Wed, 9 Dec 2009, Andrew M. Hettinger wrote:
Actually, you should read again, the GPLv2 places restrictions on the redistribution of "derivative works," as well as binaries. While
I have read it many times and have discussed the module loading issue with Richard Stallman.
GPLv2 is weak and short-sighted, and so now we have GPLv3.
what is a derivative work is up to the court to decide, it is likely you cannot port ZFS to a Linux kernel module (that would be a derivative of the Linux kernel and must be under the GPL, which is in conflict with the CDDL). Since they are both derived from the FBSD kernel, which uses the BSD license they are both compatible with, neither is a derivitive of code which is under an incompatible license.
If the module is compiled using Linux header files or objects then it is a derivative work. However, it is possible to build a module which does not use these things. It has been done before.
This is true, these licenses only affect (re)distribution, as long as you are not a (re)distributor, nothing in either license really limits you. The issue would be at (re)distribution time. If I where head of this project, I would be vary careful to make sure any GPL modules where shipped as separate packages,
Aggregation is not important. A detailed analysis of "modules" vs "programs" will find that there is often 99% (or more) overlap between the operation of "modules" and "programs". On some operating systems, there is virtually no distinction beween the behavior of a module or a program. An executable program (conforming to ANSI C) is a special type of module which provides the well-known entry point called main(). Kernel modules can obviously be quite different than shared library modules though.
Bob -- Bob Friesenhahn bfrie...@simple.dallas.tx.us, http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/ GraphicsMagick Maintainer, http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/ _______________________________________________ storage-discuss mailing list storage-discuss@opensolaris.org http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/storage-discuss
