Why is Fedora not a Free GNU/Linux distributions?

[Les Mikesell]

Matthew Saltzman wrote:
>
>>  released under the LGPL? at least to allow the the mixing and sharing
>> of code that is restricted by the real GPL.  
> 
> Almost certainly not.  The kernel is a prime example of the challenges
> involved in getting the cooperation that Alexandre refers to.  All
> authors would have to agree.  There are probably thousands of them and
> at least some of them are GPL zealots who would never agree to such
> terms.

On the other hand, Linus was once widely quoted as saying that loadable 
binary driver modules were not derivative works of the kernel - and I 
believe that the initial popularity of depended on that interpretation 
just as much as the wide use of glibc depends on it not claiming 
programs that use it as derivatives.  He has waffled on that position 
more recently but there is no clear statement or legal precedent.

Personally I think it is very close to the claims SCO makes about jfs - 
if a kernel component is a derivative of the kernel where it was 
developed then things developed under other unix versions then ported to 
linux may really belong to someone else.

-- 
   Les Mikesell
    lesmikesell at gmail.com