Comment K731 Re: patches

Pipe

GRSecurity Linux Kernel patch to end public accessability of stable patches.

Preview

patches (Score: 1)

by pete@pipedot.org on 2015-09-02 00:54 (#K56Q)

they produce patches, not redistrib. linux. its their code, and patch, and thus should be able to do what they want, no?

that aside, im upvoting because the full version of the story sounds quite interesting. they themselves are tired of seeing GPL violations, among other complaints, leading to their decision

Re: patches (Score: 1)

by evilviper@pipedot.org on 2015-09-02 02:00 (#K5A1)

Patches are necessarily derivative code, so covered by the license.

However the GPL never said you have to make your code freely available to the public. It's just that once you give it out, you can't stop anyone else from redistributing it, if they want to.

Re: patches (Score: 0)

by Anonymous Coward on 2015-09-02 14:14 (#K731)

>It's not in violation of any spirit either, as there's nothing that says they have to give you their things, as copyright holders.

Their work is a derivative work.

The contributors to linux very likely intended that any derivative works also be distributed. If any contributor to linux intended this, there may very well be an unwritten clause in the contract which exists between the parties, part of which exists in the form of the document you know as a "copyright license" (WTF did you think it was? A royal patent?). Rarely does a court decide a dispute of this sort solely on the four corners of a document. Only when the document is wholly integrated does that occur.

I don't see those words there in the GPLv2. (Even if those words exist, action taken by the parties can be used as evidence against this, if the court allows the evidence of such to be presented).

Junk Status

Marked as [Not Junk] by bryan@pipedot.org on 2016-05-06 23:24