Messages in this thread | | | From | Neil Moore <> | Subject | Unix code in Linux | Date | Thu, 19 Jun 2003 18:43:22 -0400 |
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Slashdotter lspd pointed this out in a recent thread, thereby demonstrating that slashdot isn't completely useless.
Compare: /usr/src/linux/arch/ia64/sn/io/ate_utils.c in Linux to: unix/malloc.c in UNIX 6th Edition (page 25 of the Lions code, lines 2522--2589)
atefree() is very obviously based on Unix's mfree(), and atealloc() on malloc(). atefree()/mfree() even have the *same leading comment*. Of course, there are some changes, but the overall structure and many of the details remain.
The copyright notice on ate_utils.c says:
* This file is subject to the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public * License. See the file "COPYING" in the main directory of this archive * for more details. * * Copyright (C) 1992 - 1997, 2000-2002 Silicon Graphics, Inc. All rights reserved.
This code is obviously not a trade secret, since it has been published in the 1996 version of the Lions book. However, it is copyrighted, and the book's (C) notice says: . . . SCO [i.e. the Santa Cruz Operation, not The SCO Group] has granted a license to publish solely for the purpose of creating an educational work. SCO grants no license for any other use of this material . . . .
What kind of license did SGI have to the Unix code ca. 2000--2002? Did the original malloc()/mfree() appear in BSD Lite (and thus lost to USL/Novell in the settlement)? Is there any reason to replace this code? Is there any reason not to replace this code?
-- Neil Moore: neil@s-z.org, http://s-z.org/~neil/ - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/
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