Messages in this thread | | | From | (Linus Torvalds) | Subject | Re: BSD Licensed files in Linux kernel. | Date | 7 Mar 2000 11:19:10 -0800 |
| |
In article <200003071426.BAA06561@cairo.anu.edu.au>, Darren Reed <avalon@coombs.anu.edu.au> wrote: >Sorry to disturb you folks, but someone has pointed out to me >that there are some files (e.g. linux/drivers/net/bsd_comp.c) >which are licensed under the BSD license and not the GPL.
There are numerous files that are under a dual license, which is perfectly ok. I don't actively encourage it, because it creates problems if somebody else than the original author were to ever say "I want to patch the Linux GPL'd version of this file, but I do NOT want to make my changes available under the BSD license" or vice versa, but it hasn't been a problem so far, so it's not something I discourage either.
(And besides, if somebody were to send me a patch with those kinds of restrictions, my solution would probably be to just not accept the patch in the first place).
The one file you mention (bsd_comp.c) is the only real special case that I'm aware of, which is why it cannot be linked into the kernel directly (it only ever gets built as a module - not for any technical reasons, but simply due to the copyright issue).
Linus
- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.rutgers.edu Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
| |