Re: ASL 2.0 based software contribution to FreeBSD code base

On Thu, Mar 12, 2009 at 4:28 AM, Saifi Khan <saifi.khan_at_twincling.org> wrote:
> On Wed, 11 Mar 2009, David Schultz wrote:
>
>> On Thu, Mar 12, 2009, Saifi Khan wrote:
>> > Is there anything specified in the FreeBSD project, that would
>> > prohibit ASL 2.0 licensed device drivers from being used in
>> > the OS ?
>>
>> No, but core_at_ would have to approve it. I presume their decision
>> would take into consideration technical justification, terms of
>> the license, and how the proposed code interacts with other
>> components in the base system.
>>
>
> Great ! Thats very encouraging. Thanks Dave.
>
> System code (drivers included) released under standard ASL 2.0
> license should work.

Depending on exactly what the code in question is, it could cause
problems for downstream vendors that use FreeBSD (They'd have to
review their use of FreeBSD code to ensure that they remain compliant
with the new license). As far as I'm aware, there's a very, very
strong preference for kernel code expected to be part of GENERIC to be
BSD licensed. (Thus the horror of DTrace and ZFS implimentation, and
the CDDL.)

However, if its dynamically loadable or not part of GENERIC, I don't
think the license even matters a whole lot. Everything from ath_hal,
to nvidia drivers, to GPLv2 code gets into KLDs and the like.

--- Harrison