Hi!
Just to make the scope a bit clearer. I just did some statistics on 5
variants of disclaimers. That's not complete as it was just a quick and
dirty hack to gather the information.
1) The simple one Richard pointed out today (Rule 80)
This program is licensed "as is" without any warranty of any kind,
whether express or implied.
Files total: 592
Files without Copyright notice: 94 (needs git archaeology)
Copyright holders: 177
At least two of the copyright holders have passed away and I just quick
checked a few weird company names and found 3 which have not left any
traces on Gurgle. Quite a few company names have gone through various
acquisitions ....
2) The Alan Cox variant:
Neither $NAME nor $CORP admit liability nor provide warranty for any of
this software. This material is * provided "AS-IS" and at no charge.
Files total: 22
Names/Companies in the disclaimer: 7/5
Most of it is Alan Cox, but there are a few other names there as
well. No idea whether those people can still be reached. Two names sound
familiar enough though.
3) The BSD style disclaimer (assumed to originate from TI/RidgeRun)
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN
NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF
USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON
ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
Files total: 97
Files without Copyright notice: 10 (needs git archaeology)
Copyright holders: 35
A mix of indivuduals and corporates
IDT, AMD, ATecoM, Bosch, Lemote, Alchemy Semi, Montavista, TI, Nokia,
Toshiba, RidgeRun, PMC-Sierra, Embedded Edge, Accelent, Flaga Medical
Devices.
Some of them have been through one or more acquisitons ...
Many of the individuals are OpenWRT folks, but also names without a
proper trace.
4) The Samsung beast
This program is provided "AS IS" and "WITH ALL FAULTS" and
without warranty of any kind. You are solely responsible for
determining the appropriateness of using and distributing
the program and assume all risks associated with your exercise
of rights with respect to the program, including but not limited
to infringement of third party rights, the risks and costs of
program errors, damage to or loss of data, programs or equipment,
and unavailability or interruption of operations. Under no
circumstances will the contributor of this Program be liable for
any damages of any kind arising from your use or distribution of
this program.
Files: 7
Copyright holders: 2
Samsung and a few files have a LF copyright as well
Samsung has been cleaning up their files over the last year so this one
should be possible to get rid off. No idea whom to talk to though.
5) The IBM magic one
NO WARRANTY
THE PROGRAM IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR
CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING, WITHOUT
LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT,
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. Each Recipient is
solely responsible for determining the appropriateness of using and
distributing the Program and assumes all risks associated with its
exercise of rights under this Agreement, including but not limited to
the risks and costs of program errors, damage to or loss of data,
programs or equipment, and unavailability or interruption of operations.
DISCLAIMER OF LIABILITY
NEITHER RECIPIENT NOR ANY CONTRIBUTORS SHALL HAVE ANY LIABILITY FOR ANY
DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION LOST PROFITS), HOWEVER CAUSED AND
ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR
TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE
USE OR DISTRIBUTION OF THE PROGRAM OR THE EXERCISE OF ANY RIGHTS GRANTED
HEREUNDER, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES
Files total: 56
The newest additon of that beast happened in 2012. Copy and paste are
your friend!
Copyright holders:
IBM, LSI, Applied Micro Circuits, Avago Technologies,
Microsemi Corporation, PMC-Sierra Inc., ATTO Technology Inc.,
Adaptec Inc, Dell, 3ware, Suse
Adaptec, PMC-Sierra, Microsemi are now 'Microchip Technology Inc'
3ware, Applied Micro are now MACOM Technology Solutions
LSI, Avago are now Broadcom
We surely should be able to cleanup a few of these things (hopefuly the
Samsung one) in the foreseeable future, but the rest is going to be very
interesting and time consuming.
I'm also not sure whether I catched all the fancy disclaimer variants, so
there is a good chance that the above 774 instances are just a fraction of
the total damage.
Thanks,
tglx
