GPLv2 enforcement

Posted Mar 22, 2007 11:07 UTC (Thu) by bug1 (guest, #7097)
In reply to: GPLv2 enforcement by malor
Parent article: The Torvalds Transcript (InformationWeek)

According to the US gov, a derivative work is, "a work that is based on (or derived from) one or more already existing works" (1)

Could the LinuxAnt wrapper (compatibility layer) be written without the windows broadcom driver, without the broadcom driver does the compatibility layer have a purpose ?

I think most real people can see there has to be some sort of dependency there... But maybe the compatibility layers dependence is through a standard interfaces, which are allowed exceptions in most countries i believe. (but im not sure how that effects the GPLv2).

You misunderstand me in your windows example, what im claiming is that the compatibility layer is the derivative work of both layers, the GPL requires athe source of dependencies be distributable. There are no requirements placed on either layer unless they want to be legally compatible with the compatibility layer.

If Microsoft doesnt distribute this hypothetical microsoft/linux compatibility layer they dont have to do anything.

But its all depends on the interfaces, if it uses standard interfaces to windows then the compatibility layer is probably ok, but as you suggest in your first post, only a judge can say for sure.

Another example would be shell script, it serves no purpose without a shell, so it is dependent on _a_ shell, but the shell is a standard interface (POSIX SUS), there are any number of shells that can interpret it, so the script isnt a dependency on any specific shell.

Can the linuxAnt compatibility layer claim the same sort of independence from the windows broadcom driver, does it access the driver directly, or _only_ through standard windows calls ?