[wplug] Anyone else read the NetBSD article?

[Poyner, Brandon]

Vance Kochenderfer wrote:
>
> Greg Simkins wrote:
>
> > Is it not true that Linus Torvalds literally owns the rights to the
> > license and therefore is free to provide the leadership that he
> > also willing to provide?
> 
> Contributors to the Linux kernel retain the rights in their own code.
> Linus only literally owns the code he himself wrote.  

I'll grant you that it's tricky to wrap your head around the GPL.  The
GPL would have no teeth if it wasn't based around copyright ownership.
Essentially the copyright remains with the code author, and the license
states you may have a copy of the software so long as you agree to the
terms.  If you violate the terms of the license you're violating the
author's copyright.  That is, you have no right to have a copy of the
software at all if you don't follow the license.

That reminds me of the guy (Jeff V. Merkey) that offered to purchase a
snapshot of the Linux kernel that would be relicensed under the BSD
license.  That would require the permission of all copyright holders, or
in other words anybody that contributed code to the Linux kernel that
still remained at the time of the snapshot.  It was laughably impossible
and perhaps "Jeff" was trying to make a point.  

Brandon Poyner
Network Engineer III
CCAC - College Office
412-237-3086