> Their licence is BSD. That means that if they kernel lads want to, they
> can take the Intel driver code, stamp a GPL on it, stick it into the
> kernel, and call it something else, as long as they leave the "Written by
> intel" notices there.
Not quite. Source redistributions of BSD-licensed code and modified
code must contain all of the original redistribution conditions. So
while any patches might be covered under the GPL, the original code is
still licensed under the original terms.
Additionally, the Intel license contains specific codicils to allow the
code to be incorporated in (with minor bugfix changes) and redistributed
with a GPL'd kernel without paying patent royalties. This means that if
you make substantial changes to the code and redistribute those changes,
Intel reserve the right to charge patent royalties on the modified
code-base, which is almost certainly what the linux kernel GPL clergy
object to.
Nick
Maintained by the ILUG website team. The aim of Linux.ie is to
support and help commercial and private users of Linux in Ireland. You can
display ILUG news in your own webpages, read backend
information to find out how. Networking services kindly provided by HEAnet, server kindly donated by
Dell. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds,
used with permission. No penguins were harmed in the production or maintenance
of this highly praised website. Looking for the
Indian Linux Users' Group? Try here. If you've read all this and aren't a lawyer: you should be!
