On Fri, 15 Dec 2017, John Howard wrote:
Legally, according to the Free Software Foundation, a Linux distro (GPL system software) cannot use ZFS (CDDL system software). But the Free Software Foundation has not been interested these past years in suing Ubuntu to make them stop (presumably because nobody else has legal standing to bring a lawsuit). Of course, this does imply the GPL is a frivolous agreement now.
Does the Free Software Foundation have any code in the Linux kernel? It would be unlikely for them to put any code in the Linux kernel due to their operating model, which requires signed contribution rights from each contributor and formal registration of code and documents with copyright.gov. If this is the case, then they have no legal standing.
The Free Software Foundation issues many opinions, few of which have been tested in a court of law.
The mere conjoining of GPLv2 and CDDL source code in a compiled application does not violate either license.
It is even possible to link GPLv2 code and proprietary code together without violating the license.
Depending on how it is done, ZFS can be added into Linux kernels without concern about GPLv2, and without even considering that the opinion of CDDL non-compliance is a weak one.
Bob -- Bob Friesenhahn [email protected], http://www.simplesystems.org/users/bfriesen/ GraphicsMagick Maintainer, http://www.GraphicsMagick.org/ ------------------------------------------ illumos-discuss Archives: https://illumos.topicbox.com/groups/discuss/discussions/Ta7a7a6975664694b-M444c2d8d08bc61e865f77776 Powered by Topicbox: https://topicbox.com
