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If it was GPL from the beginning, wouldn't it be a "ZFS on Linux" like situation? I don't think you can legally distribute GPL kernel modules for non GPL kerne

If it was GPL from the beginning, wouldn't it be a "ZFS on Linux" like situation? I don't think you can legally distribute GPL kernel modules for non GPL kernels. Even if you linked the module to the Darwin code, which is released under an OSS license (APSL), the two are not compatible and it's not clear if redistribution is fine (see "Darling: macOS compatibility for Linux")

trasz 7y ago
Sure you can. FreeBSD has been doing it for ages.
- chinesempire 7y ago
  FreeBSD has a license compatible with GPL. https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#FreeBSD https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#FreeBSD MacOS XNU doesn't. https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#apsl2 https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#apsl2
  - trasz 7y ago
    And how’s that relevant? Another example would be the closed source VMWare ESX, which is definitely not GPL-compatible.
    - chinesempire 7y ago
      It is relevant because you can't legally distribute GPL code linked to non-gpl compatible code. In fact VMWare and FSF/SFC have been fighting over it for the past 10 years. Even though the court dismissed the claim, VMWare announced that will remove the code in question (https://www.vmware.com/company/news/updates/march-2019-hellwig-legal-proceedings.html https://www.vmware.com/company/news/updates/march-2019-hellw...) You can read more about it here https://linux.slashdot.org/story/19/03/09/0423243/vmware-touts-dismissal-of-linux-gpl-lawsuit https://linux.slashdot.org/story/19/03/09/0423243/vmware-tou... In fact VMWare realese the source code of their drivers (among the other things) because they are licensed under the GPL https://www.vmware.com/download/open_source.html https://www.vmware.com/download/open_source.html And maintains the repositories on Github with much of the GPL code they use https://github.com/vmware https://github.com/vmware
      - trasz 7y ago
        Erm, from the links you've pasted it clearly follows that you can - that's what the court decided, twice, isn't it?
        chinesempire 7y ago
        Actually the court did not decide that. They disagreed that vmkernel is a driver, they did not rule that GPLv2 software can be combined with incompatible licenses. The source code for vmklinux, The actual kernel module, is released by VMWare for this exact reason.

trasz 7y ago

Sure you can. FreeBSD has been doing it for ages.

chinesempire 7y ago
FreeBSD has a license compatible with GPL. https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#FreeBSD https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#FreeBSD MacOS XNU doesn't. https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#apsl2 https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#apsl2
- trasz 7y ago
  And how’s that relevant? Another example would be the closed source VMWare ESX, which is definitely not GPL-compatible.
  - chinesempire 7y ago
    It is relevant because you can't legally distribute GPL code linked to non-gpl compatible code. In fact VMWare and FSF/SFC have been fighting over it for the past 10 years. Even though the court dismissed the claim, VMWare announced that will remove the code in question (https://www.vmware.com/company/news/updates/march-2019-hellwig-legal-proceedings.html https://www.vmware.com/company/news/updates/march-2019-hellw...) You can read more about it here https://linux.slashdot.org/story/19/03/09/0423243/vmware-touts-dismissal-of-linux-gpl-lawsuit https://linux.slashdot.org/story/19/03/09/0423243/vmware-tou... In fact VMWare realese the source code of their drivers (among the other things) because they are licensed under the GPL https://www.vmware.com/download/open_source.html https://www.vmware.com/download/open_source.html And maintains the repositories on Github with much of the GPL code they use https://github.com/vmware https://github.com/vmware
    - trasz 7y ago
      Erm, from the links you've pasted it clearly follows that you can - that's what the court decided, twice, isn't it?
      - chinesempire 7y ago
        Actually the court did not decide that. They disagreed that vmkernel is a driver, they did not rule that GPLv2 software can be combined with incompatible licenses. The source code for vmklinux, The actual kernel module, is released by VMWare for this exact reason.