Re: how much license information inside the kernel ?

devzero
2008-10-30T16:13:29Z

> On Thu, 30 October 2008 11:54:57 +0100, devzero@web.de wrote:
> >
> > i found that there is a LOT of repeating licensing information in the kernel.
> >
> > for me,
> >
> > find ./linux-2.6.27 -type f -exec cat {} \; |egrep "free software|GNU General Public License|Free Software Foundation|version 2 of the License|distributed in the hope|WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY|FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR"
> >
> > gives a file sized ~3.5M
> >
> > That`s more than 1% of the kernel source.
>
> Scary, isn't it?

iŽm not really scared, but it`s a really impressing amount. :)

> One of the problems is that corporate lawyers require the full GPL
> preample in any source file. As a result, a lot of developers inside
> companies cannot publish code without it. Whether that makes any sense
> is anyone's guess. But it doesn't cause much harm either, so better
> leave the bloat where it is.

i feared something like that.

so, if it`s not just a common bad habit to add those lines again and again
but something being forced by lawyers - it would indeed not being worth
the effort to adress this, as you would need to review and discuss every
single file containing those lines....

thanks for feedback

roland

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