Re: Question About GNU General Public License

[Arnoud Engelfriet]

Alexander Terekhov wrote:
> Stefan Monnier wrote:
> [...]
> > I don't think so: AFAIk the FreeBSD's license is compatible with the GPL, so
> > you can link GPL code with it without changing its license: the result
> > (i.e. the combination of the FreeBSD kernel and the GPL'd module) is GPL'd,
> 
> The result is NOT GPL'ed (that's yet another myth/silly theory). The GPL 
> can't override BSDL terms. 

If you combine GPL and BSD licensed code in such a way as to create
a derivative work (let's not debate how), then the resulting work
is yours and can be licensed any way you want - provided you have
permission from the copyright holders of the code you used. The
BSD licensor doesn't mind, but the GPL licensor insists that you
may only distribute your derivative work if you do so under GPL.

Hence, you can only distribute the resulting work under GPL terms.
Of course the BSD part itself remains BSD, but as long as it's
distributed as part of the derivative work, all distributors must
comply with the GPL terms for the BSD part.

Arnoud

-- 
Arnoud Engelfriet, Dutch patent attorney - Speaking only for myself
Patents, copyright and IPR explained for techies: http://www.iusmentis.com/