On Jun 9, 2008, Les Mikesell <lesmikesell@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Even if such a copyright existed, it would not resemble the GPL which > explicitly permits works with other terms to be aggregated Subject to certain conditions, such as that the whole derivative work be offered under the terms of the GPL, the corresponding source code for the entire work be offered, etc. The exception is the narrow case in which you can show that you're merely aggregating the works in a volume of storage or distribution medium. But the moment you claim the aggregate containing a GPLed work is a work in itself, say by claiming copyright over the collection of programs adapted and engineered so as to work as a whole, and attaching a license to it, it's no longer clear that you're still covered by the exception, after all the whole work is evidently a derived work from the GPLed work, and after all the adaptation, it's not clear at all that it is mere aggregation. > You'll note that printed combinations of different works do exist > and the terms under which each is included do not affect the others. Could this be just because the terms of each grant permission for the publication of collective works derived from it, not subject to any conditions? > And thus it has no relationship to other things that might be carried > in the same container, regardless of the form of that container. The important question is whether or not the container amounts to a copyrightable work, evidently derived from the contained parts if so. > Firmware that happens to live in a vmlinuz container Forget the kernel binary. Think of the sources. What is/are the license/s of the work published as linux-2.6.25.tar.bz2? Do you have permission to modify any part of it you want, according to the terms of the GPL? There's no dispute that the firmwares are independent works and that they stand on their own. The important question is whether the GPLed portions of the *kernel* are an independent work that stands on its own. ATM, it doesn't look like it is. The only thing we get is a work that claims to be an aggregate, but if we go looking for the separate pieces, we can find all but the biggest of them. And it's this biggest piece I'm concerned about. -- Alexandre Oliva http://www.lsd.ic.unicamp.br/~oliva/ Free Software Evangelist oliva@{lsd.ic.unicamp.br, gnu.org} FSFLA Board Member ¡Sé Libre! => http://www.fsfla.org/ Red Hat Compiler Engineer aoliva@{redhat.com, gcc.gnu.org} -- fedora-devel-list mailing list fedora-devel-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
