All of lore.kernel.org
 help / color / mirror / Atom feed
From: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
To: Timur Tabi <timur@freescale.com>
Cc: kumar.gala@freescale.com, benh@kernel.crashing.org,
	greg@kroah.com, akpm@kernel.org, linuxppc-dev@lists.ozlabs.org,
	linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org, linux-console@vger.kernel.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 7/7] [v2] drivers/misc: introduce Freescale hypervisor management driver
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2011 17:17:59 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <201106031717.59927.arnd@arndb.de> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <4DE8F347.9060104@freescale.com>

On Friday 03 June 2011, Timur Tabi wrote:
> Arnd Bergmann wrote:
> > For an ioctl, please follow the normal pattern of defining a separate
> > structure for each case, no union.
> > 
> > You can use a void __user * in the common ioctl function, and pass that
> > to the typed argument list in the specific functions.
> 
> I have a GPL question.  This header file is currently licensed under the  GPL v2
> only.  Does that mean that any application that includes this header file so
> that it can talk to the driver/hypervisor also needs to be licensed under the GPL?

If you have a license question, ask your lawyer.

Common answers that you would hear are:

* User space interfaces of the kernel are excluded from the License by the
  "normal system call" exception in linux/COPYING.

* If the header files only contain interfaces but no code, they are not
  copyrighted.

* If you want to ship a copy of the file with a user space application source,
  but have to make it available under multiple licenses to do that, e.g. dual
  GPL/BSD.

	Arnd

WARNING: multiple messages have this Message-ID (diff)
From: Arnd Bergmann <arnd@arndb.de>
To: Timur Tabi <timur@freescale.com>
Cc: kumar.gala@freescale.com, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org,
	akpm@kernel.org, linux-console@vger.kernel.org, greg@kroah.com,
	linuxppc-dev@lists.ozlabs.org
Subject: Re: [PATCH 7/7] [v2] drivers/misc: introduce Freescale hypervisor management driver
Date: Fri, 3 Jun 2011 17:17:59 +0200	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <201106031717.59927.arnd@arndb.de> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <4DE8F347.9060104@freescale.com>

On Friday 03 June 2011, Timur Tabi wrote:
> Arnd Bergmann wrote:
> > For an ioctl, please follow the normal pattern of defining a separate
> > structure for each case, no union.
> > 
> > You can use a void __user * in the common ioctl function, and pass that
> > to the typed argument list in the specific functions.
> 
> I have a GPL question.  This header file is currently licensed under the  GPL v2
> only.  Does that mean that any application that includes this header file so
> that it can talk to the driver/hypervisor also needs to be licensed under the GPL?

If you have a license question, ask your lawyer.

Common answers that you would hear are:

* User space interfaces of the kernel are excluded from the License by the
  "normal system call" exception in linux/COPYING.

* If the header files only contain interfaces but no code, they are not
  copyrighted.

* If you want to ship a copy of the file with a user space application source,
  but have to make it available under multiple licenses to do that, e.g. dual
  GPL/BSD.

	Arnd

  reply	other threads:[~2011-06-03 15:17 UTC|newest]

Thread overview: 82+ messages / expand[flat|nested]  mbox.gz  Atom feed  top
2011-06-01 18:35 [PATCH 7/7] [v2] drivers/misc: introduce Freescale hypervisor management driver Timur Tabi
2011-06-01 18:35 ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-01 19:46 ` Alan Cox
2011-06-01 19:46   ` Alan Cox
2011-06-01 19:46   ` Alan Cox
2011-06-01 20:24   ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-01 20:24     ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-01 20:24     ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-01 20:34     ` Alan Cox
2011-06-01 20:34       ` Alan Cox
2011-06-01 20:34       ` Alan Cox
2011-06-01 20:54   ` Scott Wood
2011-06-01 20:54     ` Scott Wood
2011-06-01 20:54     ` Scott Wood
2011-06-01 21:45     ` Alan Cox
2011-06-01 21:45       ` Alan Cox
2011-06-01 21:45       ` Alan Cox
2011-06-01 21:40 ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-01 21:40   ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-01 22:24   ` Scott Wood
2011-06-01 22:24     ` Scott Wood
2011-06-01 22:24     ` Scott Wood
2011-06-03 15:28     ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-03 15:28       ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-03 16:22       ` Scott Wood
2011-06-03 16:22         ` Scott Wood
2011-06-03 16:22         ` Scott Wood
2011-06-06 15:53         ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-06 15:53           ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-06 18:15           ` Scott Wood
2011-06-06 18:15             ` Scott Wood
2011-06-06 18:15             ` Scott Wood
2011-06-06 19:48             ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-06 19:48               ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-02 21:28   ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-02 21:28     ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-02 21:28     ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-03 15:24     ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-03 15:24       ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-03 15:28       ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-03 15:28         ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-03 15:28         ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-06 15:42         ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-06 15:42           ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-06 15:48           ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-06 15:48             ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-06 15:48             ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-06 16:03             ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-06 16:03               ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-06 16:09               ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-06 16:09                 ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-06 16:09                 ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-06 16:24                 ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-06 16:24                   ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-06 16:27                   ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-06 16:27                     ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-06 16:27                     ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-06 21:01                   ` Chris Metcalf
2011-06-06 21:01                     ` Chris Metcalf
2011-06-06 21:01                     ` Chris Metcalf
2011-06-06 21:23                     ` Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk
2011-06-06 21:23                       ` Konrad Rzeszutek Wilk
2011-06-06 23:04                       ` Chris Metcalf
2011-06-06 23:04                         ` Chris Metcalf
2011-06-06 23:04                         ` Chris Metcalf
2011-06-07  7:08                         ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-07  7:08                           ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-07 16:49                           ` Chris Metcalf
2011-06-07 16:49                             ` Chris Metcalf
2011-06-07 16:49                             ` Chris Metcalf
2011-06-07 19:16                             ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-07 19:16                               ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-07 19:20                               ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-07 19:20                                 ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-07 19:20                                 ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-07 19:34                                 ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-07 19:34                                   ` Arnd Bergmann
2011-06-03 14:44   ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-03 14:44     ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-03 14:44     ` Timur Tabi
2011-06-03 15:17     ` Arnd Bergmann [this message]
2011-06-03 15:17       ` Arnd Bergmann

Reply instructions:

You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:

* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
  and reply-to-all from there: mbox

  Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style

* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
  switches of git-send-email(1):

  git send-email \
    --in-reply-to=201106031717.59927.arnd@arndb.de \
    --to=arnd@arndb.de \
    --cc=akpm@kernel.org \
    --cc=benh@kernel.crashing.org \
    --cc=greg@kroah.com \
    --cc=kumar.gala@freescale.com \
    --cc=linux-console@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org \
    --cc=linuxppc-dev@lists.ozlabs.org \
    --cc=timur@freescale.com \
    /path/to/YOUR_REPLY

  https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html

* If your mail client supports setting the In-Reply-To header
  via mailto: links, try the mailto: link
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line before the message body.
This is an external index of several public inboxes,
see mirroring instructions on how to clone and mirror
all data and code used by this external index.