Xen devel - Mar 2006 - Legal concerns: added hashtable implementation

Regarding this changeset:

Added hashtable implementation, to support the reachability check against 
the
store. This code is by Christopher Clark.

Signed-off-by: Ewan Mellor <ewan@xensource.com>

http://tx.downloads.xensource.com/xen-3.0-testing.hg?cmd=changeset;node=29bbcd88a853f582025f9f00e0ffc03b3112295d


The license of the added code is incompatible with the GPL (according to the 
FSF). It contains the so-called "advertising clause". See 
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#TOCOrigBSD.

The code cannot be legally distributed with Xen under the GPL. Is there more 
of likewise licensed code hidden in the Xen sources?

Best Regards,
Michael Paesold 



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On Sat, Mar 11, 2006 at 03:57:22PM +0100, Michael Paesold wrote:
> Regarding this changeset:
> 
> Added hashtable implementation, to support the reachability check against 
> the
> store. This code is by Christopher Clark.
> 
> Signed-off-by: Ewan Mellor <ewan@xensource.com>
> 
>
http://tx.downloads.xensource.com/xen-3.0-testing.hg?cmd=changeset;node=29bbcd88a853f582025f9f00e0ffc03b3112295d
> 
> 
> The license of the added code is incompatible with the GPL (according to 
> the FSF). It contains the so-called "advertising clause". See 
> http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#TOCOrigBSD.
Damn, sorry.  I should be able to get Chris Clark (the author) to relicence
this -- I''m sure his intention was not to be incompatible with the GPL.

In the meantime, I think that we''re OK, because Xenstored is licenced
under
the LGPL, not the GPL, and that''s the only thing that uses hashtable.c
at the
moment.
> Is there more of likewise licensed code hidden in the Xen sources?
Not that I''m aware of.

Ewan.

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On Sat, Mar 11, 2006 at 05:00:01PM +0000, Ewan Mellor wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 11, 2006 at 03:57:22PM +0100, Michael Paesold wrote:
> 
> > Regarding this changeset:
> > 
> > Added hashtable implementation, to support the reachability check
against
> > the
> > store. This code is by Christopher Clark.
> > 
> > Signed-off-by: Ewan Mellor <ewan@xensource.com>
> > 
> >
http://tx.downloads.xensource.com/xen-3.0-testing.hg?cmd=changeset;node=29bbcd88a853f582025f9f00e0ffc03b3112295d
> > 
> > 
> > The license of the added code is incompatible with the GPL (according
to
> > the FSF). It contains the so-called "advertising clause".
See
> > http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#TOCOrigBSD.
> 
> Damn, sorry.  I should be able to get Chris Clark (the author) to relicence
> this -- I''m sure his intention was not to be incompatible with the
GPL.
Hang on a minute -- that code is licenced under the new BSD licence, not
the old one.  The advertising clause is the one that says

"All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must
display the following acknowledgement:
     This product includes software developed by the University of
     California, Berkeley and its contributors."

which is not contained in Christopher''s code.

See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/bsd.html

Ewan.

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Ewan''s right - it''s deliberately licensed with the new BSD
license
without the advertising clause so as to be GPL compatible. For the
avoidance of doubt I can trivially dual license it but I really doubt
that''s necessary.

Christopher


On 3/11/06, Ewan Mellor <ewan@xensource.com>
wrote:
> On Sat, Mar 11, 2006 at 05:00:01PM +0000, Ewan Mellor wrote:
>
> > On Sat, Mar 11, 2006 at 03:57:22PM +0100, Michael Paesold wrote:
> >
> > > Regarding this changeset:
> > >
> > > Added hashtable implementation, to support the reachability check
against
> > > the
> > > store. This code is by Christopher Clark.
> > >
> > > Signed-off-by: Ewan Mellor <ewan@xensource.com>
> > >
> > >
http://tx.downloads.xensource.com/xen-3.0-testing.hg?cmd=changeset;node=29bbcd88a853f582025f9f00e0ffc03b3112295d
> > >
> > >
> > > The license of the added code is incompatible with the GPL
(according to
> > > the FSF). It contains the so-called "advertising
clause". See
> > > http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#TOCOrigBSD.
> >
> > Damn, sorry.  I should be able to get Chris Clark (the author) to
relicence
> > this -- I''m sure his intention was not to be incompatible
with the GPL.
>
> Hang on a minute -- that code is licenced under the new BSD licence, not
> the old one.  The advertising clause is the one that says
>
> "All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
must
> display the following acknowledgement:
>      This product includes software developed by the University of
>      California, Berkeley and its contributors."
>
> which is not contained in Christopher''s code.
>
> See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/bsd.html
>
> Ewan.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Xen-devel mailing list
> Xen-devel@lists.xensource.com
> http://lists.xensource.com/xen-devel
>
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Ewan Mellor wrote:

> On Sat, Mar 11, 2006 at 05:00:01PM +0000, Ewan Mellor wrote:
>
>> On Sat, Mar 11, 2006 at 03:57:22PM +0100, Michael Paesold wrote:
>>
>> > Regarding this changeset:
>> >
>> > Added hashtable implementation, to support the reachability check 
>> > against
>> > the
>> > store. This code is by Christopher Clark.
>> >
>> > Signed-off-by: Ewan Mellor <ewan@xensource.com>
>> >
>> >
http://tx.downloads.xensource.com/xen-3.0-testing.hg?cmd=changeset;node=29bbcd88a853f582025f9f00e0ffc03b3112295d
>> >
>> >
>> > The license of the added code is incompatible with the GPL
(according
>> > to
>> > the FSF). It contains the so-called "advertising
clause". See
>> > http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#TOCOrigBSD.
>>
>> Damn, sorry.  I should be able to get Chris Clark (the author) to 
>> relicence
>> this -- I''m sure his intention was not to be incompatible with
the GPL.
>
> Hang on a minute -- that code is licenced under the new BSD licence, not
> the old one.  The advertising clause is the one that says
>
> "All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
> must
> display the following acknowledgement:
>     This product includes software developed by the University of
>     California, Berkeley and its contributors."
>
> which is not contained in Christopher''s code.
>
> See http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/bsd.html

I am sorry, for not looking exactly enough. The advertising clause is 
clearly not included.

I still feel uncomfortable a bit. The license states:

* Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
* notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
* documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

This means that binary distributions of Xen (including those of XenSource) 
must reproduce this license including the "Copyright (c) 2002, Chirstopher 
Clark" statement in the documentation. In that case, the license should
also
be put in the docs directory of Xen. Other distributors will unlikely know 
that they must include the license text. Right?

Best Regards,
Michael Paesold 



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On Sat, Mar 11, 2006 at 07:49:35PM +0100, Michael Paesold wrote:
> I still feel uncomfortable a bit. The license states:
> 
> * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
> * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
> * documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
> 
> This means that binary distributions of Xen (including those of XenSource) 
> must reproduce this license including the "Copyright (c) 2002,
Chirstopher
> Clark" statement in the documentation. In that case, the license
should
> also be put in the docs directory of Xen. Other distributors will unlikely 
> know that they must include the license text. Right?
Yes, it needs to go into the docs before our next release.  We''ve got a
copyright statement near the front of the User Manual -- it needs to go on
there, and that should suffice -- all binary distributions include the manual,
I believe.

Ewan.

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