linux-ext4 - Re: Using parts of ext2_fs.h in BSD licensed code

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Message-ID: <e1e08eb01003160534u7093df1ds4a0e3c86a0de1474@mail.gmail.com>
Date:	Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:34:14 +0300
From:	Evgeniy Ivanov <lolkaantimat@...il.com>
To:	tytso@....edu
Cc:	linux-ext4@...r.kernel.org
Subject: Re: Using parts of ext2_fs.h in BSD licensed code

On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 9:23 PM,  <tytso@....edu> wrote:
> On Mon, Mar 15, 2010 at 08:26:16PM +0300, Evgeniy Ivanov wrote:
>> Just found, that recently FreeBSD got this:
>> http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/sys/fs/ext2fs/ext2fs.h
>> It looks like I can easily include it to the BSD-licensed project and
>> no GPL violation. But I dunno how did they wrote ext2fs.h, since it
>> still must be based on ext2_fs.h
>
> Constants and code points aren't subject to copyright, so they don't
> have ask any question.  The places where things start to get dicy is
> with inline function and CPP macros, especially when the code starts
> become non-trivial.  i.e., there's only one way to do "(foo & MASK) !=
> 0", so that's probably not subject to copyright.  A complicated 20
> line function, even if it's in a header file, is probably going to be
> subject to copyright.  What is and isn't a matter of copyright is
> something you'd have to get a lawyer to answer for you.
>
> You can of couse also request permission, but that can get tricky,
> especially if the person who originally wrote it can't easily be
> tracked down (I haven't talked or e-mailed with Remy in years), or if
> it was done by someone while being paid by their employer, in which
> case some corporate lawyers might have to be dragged in to give
> permission.
>
> Fortunately I don't think there's much in the way of complicated code
> in the header files that you would have to deal with.
>

Thanks a lot for your answer.

-- 
Evgeniy Ivanov
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