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

yodaiken@fsmlabs.com
Sun, 26 May 2002 07:26:37 -0600


On Sun, May 26, 2002 at 11:11:38AM +0100, David Woodhouse wrote:
>
> lm@bitmover.com said:
> > On Sat, May 25, 2002 at 05:22:43PM -0400, Albert D. Cahalan 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.

That interpretation is not just false, it is silly.

-- 
---------------------------------------------------------
Victor Yodaiken 
Finite State Machine Labs: The RTLinux Company.
 www.fsmlabs.com  www.rtlinux.com

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