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evmar | 10 months ago

I noticed math_emulate.c comes from Linux (it even has a " * (C) 1991 Linus Torvalds" bit on it). I was wondering what the license on that code is. It looks like Linux adopted GPL in 1992 so maybe this copy predates that, but it was under some other non-BSD license before that.

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einr|10 months ago

The full license for Linux prior to 0.12 was:

  This kernel is (C) 1991 Linus Torvalds, but all or part of it may be
  redistributed provided you do the following:

  - Full source must be available (and free), if not with the
    distribution then at least on asking for it.

  - Copyright notices must be intact. (In fact, if you distribute
    only parts of it you may have to add copyrights, as there aren't
    (C)'s in all files.) Small partial excerpts may be copied
    without bothering with copyrights.

  - You may not distibute this for a fee, not even "handling"
    costs.
This is clearly written by someone who has no business writing software licenses ;) but does not appear to be incompatible with the BSD license and in fact, the code in question originates from 386BSD (https://github.com/386bsd/386bsd/blob/2.0/usr/src/kernel/mat...) and made it from there into the NetBSD mainline.

nikanj|10 months ago

I don't think the BSD license is compatible with "you may not distribute this for a fee"