On Dec 17, 2006, at 08:54:17, Alexandre Oliva wrote:
On Dec 16, 2006, Linus Torvalds <[email protected]> wrote:
Do you REALLY believe that a binary becomes a "derived work" of
any random library that it gets linked against? If that's not
"fair use" of a library that implements a standard library
definition, I don't know what is.
Some disregard the fact that header files sometimes aren't just
interface definitions, but they also contain functional code, in
the form of preprocessor macros and inline functions, that, if
used, do make it to the binary.
I would argue that this is _particularly_ pertinent with regards to
Linux. For example, if you look at many of our atomics or locking
operations a good number of them (depending on architecture and
version) are inline assembly that are directly output into the code
which uses them. As a result any binary module which uses those
functions from the Linux headers is fairly directly a derivative work
of the GPL headers because it contains machine code translated
literally from GPLed assembly code found therein. There are also a
fair number of large perhaps-wrongly inline functions of which the
use of any one would be likely to make the resulting binary
"derivative".
On the other hand, certain projects like OpenAFS, while not license-
compatible, are certainly not derivative works. The project was
created independently of Linux and operates on several different
operating systems, so even though it uses the very-Linux-specific
keyring interfaces under 2.6, no GPL licensing could possibly apply.
The gray area between what is clearly permitted by a license and
the murky lines that determine what constitutes a derived work, and
what is fair use even if it's a derived work, is not for any of us
to decide. The best we can do is to offer interpretations on intent
of license authors and software authors, and of laws. Even though
we're not lawyers or judges, such interpretations may be taken into
account in court disputes.
I agree, and I think that this thread has outlived its useful life.
Cheers,
Kyle Moffett
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