Re: Is the BitKeeper network protocol documented?

Larry McVoy
2003-01-22T15:09:31Z

On Wed, Jan 22, 2003 at 07:10:28AM +0000, Jamie Lokier wrote:
> However if there was a project where the repository was _essential_ to
> do any meaningful work on the project, I suspect that a court of law
> would find that the repository is considered part of the source code
> per the GPL's definition.
>
> (Note: I am not a lawyer nor have I paid for any advice.)

You're not understanding and respecting the concept of a boundary.
Suppose you had a GPLed driver and you put it in a BSD kernel, using the
driver boundary to limit the license pollution. Suppose that your driver
only worked in that BSD kernel and it was useless without the kernel.
Your argument would say that the BSD kernel needs to be considered part
of the source per the GPL's definition. Obviously incorrect.

A boundary is a boundary. It doesn't matter how much you want or need
what is on the other side of that boundary, you don't get to make your
license cross that boundary, the law doesn't work that way.
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Larry McVoy lm at bitmover.com http://www.bitmover.com/lm