this port was done in the case of QFS how come they managed to release a QFS for linux?
On 4/17/07, Erik Trimble <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Joerg Schilling wrote: > "David R. Litwin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >> On 17/04/07, Wee Yeh Tan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >>> On 4/17/07, David R. Litwin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >>> >>>> So, it comes to this: Why, precisely, can ZFS not be >>>> released under a License which _is_ GPL >>>> compatible? >>>> >>> So why do you think should it be released under a GPL compatible license? >>> >> So that it can be used directly with the Linux kernel. >> > > This is obviously a missunderstanding. You do not need to make > ZFS _part_ of the Linux kernel as id is some kind of driver. > > Using ZFS with Linux would be "mere aggregation" (see GPL text). > > Jörg > > No, the general consensus amongst Linux folks is that kernel modules calling any kernel code are considered "part" of the Linux kernel; this is still up for legal debate, of course, but this kind of very dark grey area is something that Sun's lawyers hate. Which means that having a CDDL'd kernel driver is going to turn them sickly green, because of the _very_ unknown legality of it. This issue is exactly why ATI/nVidia have their own GPL'd kernel modules, but a proprietary driver. As I mentioned before, ZFS almost certainly needs Linux VFS hooks, which are _definitely_ going to be considered GPL'd code, and thus, ZFS would be required to be GPL-compatible. About the best I can suggest is that you look at the ZFS code and see where it requires VFS access, and then write a kernel module which exports a specific API to the kernel VFS layer, and port the ZFS code to use that new API. Go look at the aforementioned nVidia drivers for an example of how they do it. Or, maybe even look at the OSS (Open Sound System) code for how to provide this kind of meta-API. -- Erik Trimble Java System Support Mailstop: usca22-123 Phone: x17195 Santa Clara, CA Timezone: US/Pacific (GMT-0800) _______________________________________________ zfs-discuss mailing list zfs-discuss@opensolaris.org http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
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