From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-path: Received: from main.gmane.org ([80.91.229.2]:49419 "EHLO ciao.gmane.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S965999AbXDHAKJ (ORCPT ); Sat, 7 Apr 2007 20:10:09 -0400 Received: from root by ciao.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.43) id 1HaKyo-0004Ru-C3 for linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org; Sun, 08 Apr 2007 02:10:02 +0200 Received: from ph.xs4all.nl ([80.126.111.3]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Sun, 08 Apr 2007 02:10:02 +0200 Received: from phulshof by ph.xs4all.nl with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Sun, 08 Apr 2007 02:10:02 +0200 To: linux-wireless@vger.kernel.org From: Pieter Hulshoff Subject: Re: OpenBSD bcw: Possible GPL license violation issues Date: Sun, 8 Apr 2007 00:04:42 +0000 (UTC) Message-ID: References: <200704041945.21447.mb@bu3sch.de> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Sender: linux-wireless-owner@vger.kernel.org List-ID: Michael Buesch writes: > We have always made and still make a great effort to keep our code clean > of any Copyright issues (cleanroom design). Please make sure you also do. It seems like most of the discussion here is focused on how this situation could have been handled and whether or not it was a mistake. I believe the quote above is what matters most here. If Open Source wishes to be taken seriously, then copyright violations need to be avoided. The way to do that professionally is by cleanroom design. If you use cleanroom design, this mistake could not even have been made! I think the fact that it happened shows a clear problem within the BSD development process for this project. Even if the copying had not been done verbatim, and/or if the GPL lines had been changed before committing the files to CVS, it would still qualify as a derivative work, and it would still have qualified as a copyright violation. It seems to me that Theo has more serious issues on his hands here than complaining about how this issue should have been handled. Kind regards, Pieter Hulshoff