On 1/31/2011 8:40 AM, Stephen Smalley wrote:
On Mon, 2011-01-31 at 06:03 -0500, cto@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Hello,
It's a great job, but I got a licensing issue: (Due to my job I have to
scrutinize Legal implications of source codes first)
SE-Postgresql uses libselinux,
libselinux tends to be in Public domain, serving as an interface for
selinux modules in kernel (which is GPL)
the problem is in libselinux/src/avc.c
http://userspace.selinuxproject.org/trac/browser/libselinux/src/avc.c
the author: Eamon Walsh
with the National Computer Security Center (the NSA)
indicated this file is "Derived" from kernel AVC (which is GPL v 2.1)
_____________________________________________________________
/*
* Implementation of the userspace access vector cache (AVC).
*
* Author : Eamon Walsh<ewalsh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*
* Derived from the kernel AVC implementation by
* Stephen Smalley<sds@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> and
* James Morris<jmorris@xxxxxxxxxx>.
*/
_____________________________________________________________
The term "Derived" has legal implication, any derivative works of GPL
code should be GPL (the kernel avc is licensed under GPL v 2.1)
To me that file is much like a re-implementation of AVC for libselinux,
it is obvious for interfacing userspace with kernel module you need to
follow the structures of what you actually interface with (in this case
it could be interpreted as original work)
Although due to Legal requirements I have to consider author claims as
well, and the Author clearly indicated it is a derivative work,
If we consider the author claim then libselinux falls into GPL license
category anything dynamically or statically linked to it should be
released under GPL license then, That would make se-postgresql license
inappropriate which is using postgresql license (actually is a BSD-like
license and is less restrictive license than GPL).
Please shed some light on this issue,
libselinux is entirely public domain, with the agreement of all
contributors.
The original kernel AVC code was developed by the NSA and was public
domain by itself, and only fell under the GPL when included as part of
the Linux kernel. There have been some subsequent enhancements to the
kernel AVC, particularly the use of RCU for locking, that are not
present in the libselinux AVC.
Mr. Smalley,
Thanks for clarification,
Best,
Patrick K.
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