Re: patent on O_ATOMICLOOKUP [Re: [PATCH] loopable tmpfs (2.4.17)]

Roman Zippel
2002-05-26T13:05:04Z

Hi,

On Sun, 26 May 2002, David Woodhouse wrote:

> > > To get a free patent license, EVERYTHING must be GPL.
> > > Not just the real-time part! So that would be:
> > >
> > > 1. the RT microkernel (OK)
> > > 2. the RT "app" (OK)
> > > 3. Linux itself (OK)
> > > 4. normal Linux apps (ouch!)
>
> > Whether that is true or not I don't know. But I do know that if all
> > the stuff was GPLed, then you are safe no matter what, right?
>
> It's been asserted that the patent licence requires that _all_ userspace
> apps running on the system by GPL'd. Yet there are many Free Software
> applications in a standard Linux distribution that are under
> GPL-incompatible licences. Apache, xinetd, etc...
>
> If that interpretation is true, it _would_ be a problem, and not just for
> those trying to make money from it.

It is a possible interpretation. The problem is that there is very broad
patent, a very vague patent licence and patent owner, who refuses to
answer the most simple questions. :-(

bye, Roman