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Has there ever been an attempt to buy the copyright for ZFS from Oracle, so it could be changed to be compatible with GPLv2?

• ksec 5y ago
  Same question i have had in my mind for a long time.
• p_l 5y ago
  1. Oracle can only sell you a divergent version 2. relicensing would kill the project To expand on (2) - CDDL was specifically designed to make it easier to include in other projects while also keeping certain protections for all involved. The issue is that GPLv2 has somewhat complex case of whether it applies ("derivative work") and also tries to push you to distribute code under GPLv2 terms and doesn't play ball if some part of it has requirements that exceed GPLv2 ones. The specific incompatibility is, iirc, due to patent litigation protections in CDDL, which do not exist in GPLv2, meaning you can't just redistribute CDDL code under GPLv2 umbrella
  • thayne 5y ago
    But why couldn't it be relicensed as mit, bsd, or some other non-copyleft license that is compatible with GPLv2?
    • p_l 5y ago
      Because those don't include patent indemnity which protects you from hypothetical patent litigation from Oracle (and other contributors). Unfortunately, it's IIRC the part that, according to some, makes it incompatible with GPL