license question w.r.t. NFSv4.1 Layout drivers - calling all
amateur lawyers
Gary Jennejohn
gljennjohn at googlemail.com
Wed Dec 28 10:47:28 UTC 2011
On Mon, 26 Dec 2011 22:42:36 -0500 (EST)
Rick Macklem <rmacklem at uoguelph.ca> wrote:
> First off, I had no idea which mailing list would be appropriate
> for this, so apologies in advance if I chose the wrong one.
>
> For NFSv4.1 pNFS, there are layout drivers in Linux that I would
> like to reuse for the FreeBSD client. (Re-writing these drivers
> from scratch would be a lot of work and difficult to maintain. The
> Linux drivers are being actively developed with the assistance of
> server vendors.)
>
> Two of these drivers carry a University of Michigan copyright notice
> which looks pretty liberal to me. (Rather similar to MIT's copyright.)
> I realize it would have to be approved by core@, but I think it could
> be. (The 3rd is GPLv2'd, but that one doesn't concern me at this time.
> I believe that Panasas might be able to release the code for this one
> under a different license, but haven't explored this as of yet.)
>
> However, there is a catch...
> After the copyright notice on the .c files, but not the .h files,
> there is also this:
>
> MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
>
> and in linux/module.h, there is the following for the above:
> /*
> * The following license idents are currently accepted as indicating free
> * software modules
> *
> * "GPL" [GNU Public License v2 or later]
> * "GPL v2" [GNU Public License v2]
> * "GPL and additional rights" [GNU Public License v2 rights and more]
> * "Dual BSD/GPL" [GNU Public License v2
> * or BSD license choice]
> * "Dual MIT/GPL" [GNU Public License v2
> * or MIT license choice]
> * "Dual MPL/GPL" [GNU Public License v2
> * or Mozilla license choice]
> *
> * The following other idents are available
> *
> * "Proprietary" [Non free products]
> *
> * There are dual licensed components, but when running with Linux it is the
> * GPL that is relevant so this is a non issue. Similarly LGPL linked with GPL
> * is a GPL combined work.
> *
> * This exists for several reasons
> * 1. So modinfo can show license info for users wanting to vet their setup
> * is free
> * 2. So the community can ignore bug reports including proprietary modules
> * 3. So vendors can do likewise based on their own policies
> */
> #define MODULE_LICENSE(_license) MODULE_INFO(license, _license)
>
> Now, from what little I know, this does not imply that the .c file is GPL'd,
> since it doesn't have any GPL copyright notice in the file, nor does it #include
> one via MODULE_LICENSE().
>
> Does anyone happen to know if I am correct or how to confirm this?
>
> Thanks in advance for any help with this, rick
> ps: Here's what's on the .c file, in case you're interested. The .h
> files just have what is in the comment.
> /*
> * Module for the pnfs nfs4 file layout driver.
> * Defines all I/O and Policy interface operations, plus code
> * to register itself with the pNFS client.
> *
> * Copyright (c) 2002
> * The Regents of the University of Michigan
> * All Rights Reserved
> *
> * Dean Hildebrand <dhildebz at umich.edu>
> *
> * Permission is granted to use, copy, create derivative works, and
> * redistribute this software and such derivative works for any purpose,
> * so long as the name of the University of Michigan is not used in
> * any advertising or publicity pertaining to the use or distribution
> * of this software without specific, written prior authorization. If
> * the above copyright notice or any other identification of the
> * University of Michigan is included in any copy of any portion of
> * this software, then the disclaimer below must also be included.
> *
> * This software is provided as is, without representation or warranty
> * of any kind either express or implied, including without limitation
> * the implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular
> * purpose, or noninfringement. The Regents of the University of
> * Michigan shall not be liable for any damages, including special,
> * indirect, incidental, or consequential damages, with respect to any
> * claim arising out of or in connection with the use of the software,
> * even if it has been or is hereafter advised of the possibility of
> * such damages.
> */
>
> #include <linux/nfs_fs.h>
> #include <linux/nfs_page.h>
> #include <linux/module.h>
>
> #include "internal.h"
> #include "nfs4filelayout.h"
>
> #define NFSDBG_FACILITY NFSDBG_PNFS_LD
>
> MODULE_LICENSE("GPL");
> MODULE_AUTHOR("Dean Hildebrand <dhildebz at umich.edu>");
> MODULE_DESCRIPTION("The NFSv4 file layout driver");
>
IANAL but IMO the university copyriught notice takes precedence over
the MODULE_LICENSE(), which is basically there so that the in-kernel
linker won't brand the result of loading this module as "tainted."
This is based on 10 years of doing embedded Linux work and encountering
this "problem" myself.
--
Gary Jennejohn
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