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Date:      Fri, 21 Dec 2001 13:15:02 -0700
From:      Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
To:        Jonathan Lemon <jlemon@flugsvamp.com>, "Gary W. Swearingen" <swear@blarg.net>
Cc:        Jonathan Lemon <jlemon@flugsvamp.com>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: GPL nonsense: time to stop
Message-ID:  <4.3.2.7.2.20011221131016.00d3dcc0@localhost>
In-Reply-To: <20011220171739.J26326@prism.flugsvamp.com>
References:  <lpellpwlhe.llp@localhost.localdomain> <local.mail.freebsd-chat/Pine.LNX.4.43.0112181134500.21473-100000@pilchuck.reedmedia.net> <local.mail.freebsd-chat/20011218110645.A2061@tisys.org> <200112182010.fBIKA9739621@prism.flugsvamp.com> <4.3.2.7.2.20011218180720.00d6e520@localhost> <20011219091631.Q377@prism.flugsvamp.com> <0en10ey5jo.10e@localhost.localdomain> <20011219215548.D76354@prism.flugsvamp.com> <lpellpwlhe.llp@localhost.localdomain>

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At 04:17 PM 12/20/2001, Jonathan Lemon wrote:

>Sorry, but you're forgetting one simple fact: as the Author, I maintain
>all Copyrights.  So my original work by itself is (and cannot be) tainted
>by the GPL unless I reassign the copyright.  This *IS* well tested 
>international copyright law.  (Berne Convention)

Jonathan:

This is, alas, not quite true. Let's take the example of Linux syslogd.
It was based on Berkeley syslogd, written by Eric Allman, and the man
page credits him and other contributors. But the code has been thoroughly
commmingled with GPLed additions and modifications, and there is nothing
in the code to indicate which parts are GPLed and which are not. It is
thus effectively GPLed.

The same could happen to the kernel if we're not careful. I'm worried,
(as you know) that we have long ago passed the boundaries of safety,
and that we should have no GPLed code anywhere in the FreeBSD kernel
*or* userland. (What to do about Perl would be an interesting issue.
The Artistic License is business- and programmer-friendly and is not 
malicious, but Perl is dual-licensed under the Artistic License and
the GPL. Larry probably did this without understanding the full impact
or import of the GPL.)

--Brett


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