[OpenAFS-devel] Re: IBM public license code (from OpenAFS) in samba/examples/nss ok?

[Simo Sorce]

On Thu, 2004-08-26 at 16:29, Volker.Lendecke@SerNet.DE wrote:

> I don't understand the legal stuff enough to be really sure it is ok to check
> this into a GPL project.

Unfortunately IBM-PL covered code is incompatible with the GNU GPL we
use. Here it is a snippet of argumentation from gnu.org(1):

IBM Public License, Version 1.0
        This is a free software license but it is incompatible with the
        GPL. 
        
        The IBM Public License is incompatible with the GPL because it
        has various specific requirements that are not in the GPL.
        
        For example, it requires certain patent licenses be given that
        the GPL does not require. (We don't think those patent license
        requirements are inherently a bad idea, but nonetheless they are
        incompatible with the GNU GPL.)
        

> Would it be possible to add these files with a special comment? Is it possible
> to distribute them at all?

No any comment you do will not influence the license of that code. The
only way to act unilaterally would be to add an exception to the whole
samba project GPL License.

But yes you can distribute the patch without problems, anyway you will
not able to deliver a linked object based on the combination of code
covered by 2 incompatible licenses.

> What do you think? Would it be possible to get an "official" answer from IBM?
> (duck)...

That would be the only way to go, getting those 3 files from IBM under a
GPL compatible License (be it the GPL itself or any other GPL compatible
license).

Simo.

(1) http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html

-- 
Simo Sorce    -  idra@samba.org
Samba Team    -  http://www.samba.org
Italian Site  -  http://samba.xsec.it