4 ms·
There's a concept of "separate works", see for example https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLCompatInstaller https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GP
by neobrain 1y ago
There's a concept of "separate works", see for example https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLCompatInstaller https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLCompatInstaller .
Tangentially, I assumed that the GPL must have some built-in exception for running non-GPL userspace programs on top of a GPLed kernel (similar to the System Library exception). However, it seems like it doesn't, since the Linux kernel has its own exception to allow this: https://spdx.org/licenses/Linux-syscall-note.html https://spdx.org/licenses/Linux-syscall-note.html.
- cyphar 1y agoNote that the Linux syscall exemption is actually not the license of the entirety of Linux, because most code contributed to Linux is under the standard GPLv2. It's just a red herring -- there is no need for such an exemption because the generally held view is that such programs are not derived works of Linux (from a copyright law perspective) in the first place.