CDDL+GPL and stuff

[seventh guardian]

On 7/17/07, Arnoud Engelfriet <arnoud at engelfriet.net> wrote:
> Konstantin Svist wrote:
> > Well, it's pretty easy to argue about corner cases - but what about ZFS?
> > It was not written for Linux specifically, but it doesn't "link" to it,
> > at least not as-is. Does altering ZFS code to make it link with Linux
> > kernel violate the GPL?
>
> I don't know. That depends on the kind of alterations you make.
>
> > Or is it just a concern that it's a gray area?
> > What about using a layer - a small piece of GPL/LGPL code that will be
> > the only thing that links to the Kernel directly - and on its other
> > side, to existing ZFS code? (I think I heard that that's what ATI/nVidia
> > do with their proprietary drivers, by the way)
>
> I've seen several proposals for creating 'wrappers' like this. One
> very creative one is to turn a GPL program or library into a standalone
> program and to interact with it using sockets, CORBA or similar
> technologies instead of linking. Since the programs are then at
> arm's length, supposedly they are not derivative works.
>
> The problem is that many people treat this question as a technical
> issue. It's not. It's a legal issue, and so you can't give a bright
> technical line like "do this and it's derivative; do that and it isn't".
>
> The only one who can create a bright line is the copyright holder
> to the work you're basing yourself on. Linus Torvalds for example
> said that applications that run on Linux are not derivative works.
> That's a bright line - but only because he said so.

I've been following this thread and I guess it's time to drop my "50
cents" (or "mandar a minha posta", as we say here in Portugal).

The good way (TM) to put ZFS in linux would be to work in a "clean
room" way. I mean, find someone that can look at the source code and
document ZFS in detail (the mechanism, not the source code), and then
find someone that can take the documentation only (never looked at the
source code) and write a good GPL'ed module.

You can't be both, since your subconscious would use the same
algorithms and functions, which could lead to legal embarrassments
like the linux bcm driver porting to BSD (another story..).

A good starting point would be to write the documentation yourself and
then making it publicly available. There wouldn't take long for
someone to offer himself to write the module.

The only issue I see here would be the existence of patents regarding
ZFS (damn, I hate patents..).

Cheers,
  Renato Caldas