From: rafetmad@cheshire.oxy.edu (David Giller) Subject: BSD lisence and copyright: Kernel hacking/merging Date: Tue, 2 Jun 1992 02:34:56 GMT
I have a couple of questions for the Legal-aware out there.
I am going away from my internet access for the summer (sniff). I am taking
about 40Mb of various sources and info, however, and I will be taking a
CD-ROM of X11R5 and all the GNU sources with me, so don't anyone worry
about my boredom, I've got about 650Mb of stuff to keep me busy.
However, one of the things I'd like to do is play with merging some of the
BSD and Linux sources. Not really merging per se... I want to take some of
the working pieces of BSD and graft them into Linux.
What I'm wondering is, what are the legal ramifications if I want to give
out what I've accomplished? For example, I want to port the CD-ROM
driver to Linux. It is under the BSD Lisence.
Can I give out copies of the finished project? If it were good enough,
could Linus include it in, say, an MCC release of Linux? Would Linux
have to start displaying Regents-Of-UC-Berkeley copyright notices?
I'd like to add to Linux, but I don't want to cause the Linux lisence
to change in the process. And I don't have the knowledge to write a CD-ROM
driver myself (though a GREAT deal of it will be pretty close!)
Another idea I'd like to play with (god forbid) is installable device drivers.
I know, I know, it's almost like a DOSism compared to the UNIX way of doing
things. BUT, it's a convenient DOSism, and it could really help make
Linux configuration easier.
-Dave
-- David Giller, Box 134 | Q: How many Oregonians does it take to screw in a light Occidental College | bulb? A: Three. One to replace the bulb, and two to 1600 Campus Road | fend off all the Californians trying to share the Los Angeles, CA 90041 | experience. ---------------------------rafetmad@oxy.edu