Re: RFC: Starting a stable kernel series off the 2.6 kernel

Arjan van de Ven
2005-12-04T15:23:42Z

> But I do wonder how copyright and GPL can co-exist. Do the copyright
> holder own the changes anybody else does to the code?
> Anyone care to explain?

The GPL *is* copyright. You and I as copyright holders reserve all
rights, and then grant selected rights; the rights and the conditions
they are granted under are described in the COPYING file. It's a
misunderstanding to think that GPL means "no copyright" or "can do
anything I want"; in a way the GPL is quite a restrictive license.
(while it allows you to distribute, copy and make derived works, it only
does allow that under the condition that the result is made available
under the GPL as well in full source form, and there's some additional
conditions as well)

so GPL can copyright are not in conflict, the GPL can exist BECAUSE of
copyright actually.