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Am Wed, 19 Aug 2015 21:13:01 -0400 |
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schrieb Rich Freeman <rich0@g.o>: |
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> So, who cares what they think? They don't get to write the law. When |
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> Linus says stuff that is smart, I'll admire him for it. When he says |
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> stuff that is dumb, I'm not afraid to say that the emperor has no |
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> clothes. |
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What do you think of the input the lawyers he went to gave him [0]: |
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"Linus, however, believes that GPL-only exports are significant. |
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I've talked to a lawyer or two, and (a) there's an absolutely _huge_ |
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difference and (b) they liked it. |
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The fact is, the law isn't a blind and mindless computer that takes what |
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you say literally. Intent matters a LOT. And using the xxx_GPL() version to |
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show that it's an internal interface is very meaningful indeed. |
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One of the lawyers said that it was a much better approach than trying to |
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make the license explain all the details - codifying the intention in the |
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code itself is not only more flexible, but a lot less likely to be |
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misunderstood." |
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In the rest of the email [1] he writes: |
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"I think both them said that anybody who were to change a xyz_GPL to the |
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non-GPL one in order to use it with a non-GPL module would almost |
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immediately fall under the "willful infringement" thing, and that it would |
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make it MUCH easier to get triple damages and/or injunctions, since they |
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clearly knew about it. |
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I suspect programmers make horrible lawyers. They nitpick on details that |
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sane humans don't. I think programmers often end up forgetting about the |
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fact that human interactions don't work that way. Common sense makes a lot |
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of difference, and DWIM is not just possible, but it's the only thing that |
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matters. |
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|
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Linus" |
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[0] https://lwn.net/Articles/154602/ |
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[1] https://lwn.net/Articles/154603/ |
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-- |
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Marc Joliet |
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-- |
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"People who think they know everything really annoy those of us who know we |
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don't" - Bjarne Stroustrup |
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