linux-kernel - Re: GPLv3 Position Statement

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Date:	Fri, 29 Sep 2006 11:40:06 -0700 (PDT)
From:	Linus Torvalds <torvalds@...l.org>
To:	Alan Cox <alan@...rguk.ukuu.org.uk>
cc:	Helge Hafting <helge.hafting@...el.hist.no>, tglx@...utronix.de,
	Neil Brown <neilb@...e.de>,
	Michiel de Boer <x@...elhomicide.demon.nl>,
	James Bottomley <James.Bottomley@...elEye.com>,
	linux-kernel <linux-kernel@...r.kernel.org>
Subject: Re: GPLv3 Position Statement

On Fri, 29 Sep 2006, Linus Torvalds wrote:
> 
> I think you can push that angle, and a lot of the time it will work in 
> practice - because the companies involved are really not "evil", and most 
> often they simply want to avoid any trouble. 

Btw, I'd also like to say that not only am I not a lawyer, I also think 
that it's perfectly fine for people to disagree with me and decide to sue 
somebody they really really dislike. I'm not giving legal advice, and am 
just stating my own standpoint.

I think people (especially in the US) tend to be way too lawsuit-happy 
anyway, but I'm in no way trying to discourage people who feel they want 
to assert rights that I personally don't think _I_ have. People differ in 
their opinions of the rights they hold. That's ok.

The way things _really_ get decided is not on the kernel mailing list, or 
even by asking a lawyer, but by people who decided that some company or 
other just simply crossed the line and did something illegal. My opinion 
simply doesn't _matter_ in that sense.

For example, when I say that I think it would be totally insane to think 
that a 128-bit hash of a binary is a "derived work", I say that as a 
concerned citizen. I think a world where real lawyers would say that would 
be a _horrible_ world. And I don't think it makes sense. But sadly, until 
I'm elected(*) life-time President and King of the World, what I think 
doesn't actually change anything.

			Linus

(*) Hah. Who do I think I'm kidding? The revolution will be bloody and 
brutal, and you're not going to get the choice to "elect" me except in the 
history books written by yours truly.
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