We have received an email claiming that the Kororaa Xgl Live CD is in violation of the GPL.

I have been researching this as much as I can, asking many prominent people in the Linux world for their opinion. So far, no-one has agreed with the email, however a few have said to seek legal advice, which I cannot afford to do (but can't afford NOT to do, if I want to continue the Live CD). As such, the Live CD has been put on hold, until I can sort this out. If I cannot sort this out I will be forced to cease work on the Xgl Live CD.

Here is the email:

It seems that your kororaa live CD contains the non-GPL nvidia and ati
binary drivers. I hereby request that you cease distribution of these
drivers as part of your live CD for the following reason: This
distribution both goes against the open source spirit of linux and is a
license violation of the linux kernel.

To expand on this later claim:
* When *you* build these drivers, you include GPL linux kernel code in
the binary result, which *you* then distribute.
* The GPL license clause 2 does not allow combination of GPL and non-GPL
work in a bigger work (your live CD) when the 2 pieces are not
reasonably independent. (Strictly speaking this means you're not allowed
to include the linux kernel on your CD; to keep your CD functional
however the easier way is to drop the nvidia/ati drivers)
* The GPL license clause 3 does not allow you to distribute a derived
work unless it's also GPL licensed. The compiled ATI/NVidia drivers are
clearly a derived work (even though parts of the drivers most likely are
not, parts clearly are, and you're distributing it all together).

While I applaud your effort to make linux easier to use, I urge you to
play be the same rules (GPL) as everyone else is playing by.

Firstly, I am not a lawyer so these are my (possibly misguided) opinions. As I see it, the main issue is whether the nVidia and ATI drivers take GPL sourcecode from the Kernel and build that source into their closed source drivers. If that is the case, then certainly there is a GPL violation, but I guess being closed source only nVidia and ATI will know for sure.

Perhaps the first point of call is that the nVidia license permits the re-distribution of their driver in Linux distributions. Surely if it was a GPL violation they are not allowed to do this, or perhaps it's just down to the distro maintainer to see if the GPL overrides other package licenses.

I send emails to both ATI and nVidia querying this license issue. ATI didn't even acknowledge my email however nVidia (to their credit) did reply (thank you!). Here is the nVidia license, as quoted in an email from nVidia:

The NVIDIA Software License:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nv_swlicense.html

permits redistribution of the NVIDIA Linux Graphics driver like you are doing:

"2.1.2 Linux/FreeBSD Exception. Notwithstanding the foregoing terms
of Section 2.1.1, SOFTWARE designed exclusively for use on the Linux
or FreeBSD operating systems, or other operating systems derived
from the source code to these operating systems, may be copied
and redistributed, provided that the binary files thereof are not
modified in any way (except for unzipping of compressed files)."

Ok, so that doesn't prove that the nVidia driver uses Kernel code or not, so I probed again:

I cannot give you legal advice, but I can tell you technically how
things are organized within the driver.

The NVIDIA kernel module consists of two pieces: a binary-only
portion and a kernel interface layer (aka the "shim"). The
binary-only portion is not Linux-specific (the same code is used
on Windows, Solaris, etc), and does not include any Linux kernel
header files when it is built. The shim is provided in source code
form with the driver package, and this is the piece that is compiled
for your version and configuration of the Linux kernel. The shim
is the only piece that references Linux kernel data structures or
macros, and only does so to the extent that is needed to provide
the functionality of a modern graphics driver. After the shim is
compiled, it is linked with the binary-only portion, to produce
the final NVIDIA kernel module.

I am not *that* technical, but it would appear to me that the nVidia driver is not actually using any code from the Kernel, but rather just information. He does state that it "does not include any Linux kernel header files when it is built". I do not understand what "data structures" or "macros" are in relation to the Linux kernel, perhaps someone else will know.

The other points in the email are to do with whether one can package non-GPL components with a larger GPL project. I guess on the face of it, it sounds logical that you can't, but if this is the case then surely almost every distribution out there is in violation of the GPL? There are lots of different open source licenses that conflict with the GPL, so even if a distro bundles something licensed under Mozilla or something like Java for example, wouldn't that mean they are also in violation? Maybe it just comes down to interpretation? I was of the opinion this was one of the reasons the GPLv3 was coming out, Stallman wanted to kill "hybrids". If "hybrids" are not permitted by the GPLv2 license, then surely it wouldn't be a necessary feature of the GPLv3?

As I said, I'm neither a lawyer nor an expert developer so all my opinions could be fundamentally flawed.

The main point I want to raise is that we do want to comply, honour and respect the GPL in relation to the Kororaa Project. Currently I am in limbo because no-one seems to be able to confirm the accusations made in the email.

If we are indeed in violation then on behalf of the Kororaa Project I sincerely apologise to the entire open source world, and will cease distribution of the Xgl Live CD immediately.

Is anyone out there able to shed some ground breaking light on this issue?

Although the Xgl Live CD has been halted, we are still working on the next official Kororaa release, 2006. Thank you all for your support.

Many thanks,
Chris

Forums are back up!
-------------------

The forums will go down for half an hour tonight at about 7pm AEST (UTC +10, about 2 hours time) for maintenance.

Thanks!

Today I'm pleased to have no other news for you so I'm going with an announcement for the new wiki for Kororaa!

It is available here:
http://wiki.kororaa.org

It is pretty fresh and we are in the process of porting information across from the forums, so please bear with us while we do that.

You are welcome to contribute to the wiki, so please register if you wish to do so.

It is really designed for Kororaa specific documentation and general Linux tips, so don't forget the great Gentoo wiki (which is full of great information) at http://gentoo-wiki.com

We hope it will be useful!

Chris

"Nobody should start to undertake a large project. You start with a small _trivial_ project, and you should never expect it to get large. If you do, you'll just overdesign and generally think it is more important than it likely is at that stage. Or worse, you might be scared away by the sheer size of the work you envision.
So start small, and think about the details. Don't think about some big picture and fancy design. If it doesn't solve some fairly immediate need, it's almost certainly over-designed. And don't expect people to jump in and help you. That's not how these things work. You need to get something half-way _useful_ first, and then others will say "hey, that _almost_ works for me", and they'll get involved in the project. "

Linus Torvalds

Wishing you a nice, relaxing Easter break.
May you find time to ponder the reason for the season.
Safe holidays!