Re: [TUHS] Lexical comparator, was Re: the battle against SCO

In message: <Pine.LNX.4.56.0309152131290.24213(a)zen.canint.timetraveller.org> Robert Brockway <robert(a)timetraveller.org> writes: : a) Code which is licenced in a manner incompatible with the GPL : b) Code that the copyright holder did not authorise going into the kernel. There's a lot of code that originated in the BSD world that had its copyrights shorn off, a GPL splatted on and the mass hacking began. Many of these are no longer recognizable from there original form, and aren't a problem. Some have much more in common with the original. Linux is vulnerable to the original author having a shit fit if they ever find out. Most of the open source authors are amused when this happens, so the odds are low a big deal would be made of it. This practice was wide-spread in the early 1990s, although things have improved a lot. However, without something like CVS and the legal assignment of copyright (or formal acknowledgement of licensing under the GPL, which is harder to defend), this will always be a problem with Linux. The BSD projects are a little tigher about this, but still would be vulnerable. Warner