Re: Non-GPL export of invalidate_mmap_range

Tim Bird
2004-02-18T18:04:11Z

I should know better than to stir up a hornets nest
by discussing GPL issues on this list... :)

Arjan van de Ven wrote:
> On Wed, 2004-02-18 at 01:19, Andrew Morton wrote:
>>Neat, but it's hard to see the relevance of this to your patch.
>>I don't see any licensing issues with the patch because the filesystem
>>which needs it clearly meets Linus's "this is not a derived work"
>>criteria.
>
> it does?
...
> it needs no changes to the core kernel? *buzz*
Actually, this would tend towards an interpretation that
it was NOT a derived work.

That is, if a the Linux kernel must be modified in order
to run with a piece of software, that's one indicator
that the piece of software (when standing alone) may not
be derived from the kernel. I am purposely avoiding the
"but what about when it's linked" argument.

=============================
Tim Bird
Architecture Group Co-Chair
CE Linux Forum
Senior Staff Engineer
Sony Electronics
E-mail: Tim.Bird@am.sony.com
=============================