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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!zombie.ncsc.mil!news.mathworks.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!news1.digital.com!nntp-hub2.barrnet.net!nntp-sc.barrnet.net!ratatosk.yggdrasil.com!adam From: adam@freya.yggdrasil.com (Adam J. Richter) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc,comp.unix.advocacy,comp.unix.misc Subject: Re: Linux vs FreeBSD Date: 11 Dec 1995 03:32:42 GMT Organization: Yggdrasil Computing, Inc. Lines: 34 Message-ID: <4ag8oq$399@freya.yggdrasil.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: freya.yggdrasil.com Originator: adam@freya.yggdrasil.com Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.advocacy:31050 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:10917 comp.unix.advocacy:12434 comp.unix.misc:20202 In article <4ag0pi$rqg@sundog.tiac.net>, Rick Kelly <rmk@tencats.rmkhome.com> wrote: >Linus has the primary copyright on the Linux kernel. He can do with it >what he wants, including removing it from the GPL... Curious question: is "primary copyright" a legal term? It's not in the abridged sixth edition of Black's Law Dictionary. Anyhow, let me clarify Rick's statement. Linus owns the copyright to a lot of code in the Linux kernel, but there are other copyright holders, and Linus could not unilaterally change their copyrights. In addition, Linus could not enforce further restriction on the code that has already been released, since, by releasing the code under the GNU General Public License, he has already granted permission to do the things allowed by the GPL. However, Linus could put the portions of the Linux kernel that he wrote under a license less restrictive than the GPL in every case, which I think was what Rick meant. I, for one, would prefer that Linux remain under the GPL, because I think that if that were not the case, competitive pressures would make the Linux vendors make their distributions proprietary and not return their changes to the free software community. Ultimately, this would make Linux no more interesting than the various proprietary unix-like systems. -- Adam J. Richter Yggdrasil Computing, Incorporated (408) 261-6630 "Free Software For The Rest of Us." -- Adam J. Richter Yggdrasil Computing, Incorporated (408) 261-6630 "Free Software For The Rest of Us."