SmartOS (based on IllumOS) released

SmartOS (based on IllumOS) released - with KVM

Posted Aug 15, 2011 19:51 UTC (Mon) by trasz (guest, #45786)
In reply to: SmartOS (based on IllumOS) released - with KVM by fuhchee
Parent article: SmartOS (based on IllumOS) released - with KVM

It does matter: for works that are not derived work in the copyright law sense, the license is irrelevant, but for work that could be derived work, the license _is_ relevant. The problem with GPL is that the law does not state clearly whether stuff merely linked with GPL-ed code constitutes derived work; CDDL solves the problem by explicitly saying it does not apply to the "merely linked" stuff.

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SmartOS (based on IllumOS) released - with KVM

Posted Aug 17, 2011 15:09 UTC (Wed) by vonbrand (guest, #4458) [Link] (1 responses)

Exactly as murky as the GPL case. What the heck is "merely linked"? To find out what functions/data I can use from "the other side" presumably I have to study it. Whatever I write and compile to "merely link" won't be able to stand on it's own, and would be completely useless in the next operating system (or even a few versions later of the same). So the argument that it isn't derived is pretty thin. Sure, it could be non-derived (just as in the GPL case), but in most cases it will be a bona fide derived work.

SmartOS (based on IllumOS) released - with KVM

Posted Aug 17, 2011 18:17 UTC (Wed) by trasz (guest, #45786) [Link]

The "merely linked" wording is my own. CDDL is very specific here, see my other comment above. It makes it very clear that it only applies to files copyrighted under CDDL or containing code taken from files copyrighted under CDDL. This makes it very different from GPL, which, according to RMS, applies also to everything linked with files copyrighted under GPL, i.e. the phenomenon often called "virality".