> > Since the Linux kernel as a whole does not have a single author, it is
It doesn't matter. He can license you his compilation, but that doesn't
license you the underlying elements.
I can make a compilation CD of great works of Rock N' Roll. I can hold a
copilation copyright in the compilation. I can license that compilation
copryight. That doesn't mean you can make, copy, or sell a CD with my
compilation on it, because you are also copying and distributing the
original works.
That is a common simplification. The GPL is clear that it applies
automatically with distribution. If you distribute a GPL'd work (or elements
that are GPL'd inside a larger work), those elements are relicensed under
the GPL automatically. You *cannot* prevent this from happening.
If I take the Linux kernel, modify it, and then give you a copy, you get a
license under GPLv2 from Linus to all of those elements that he placed under
the GPL. I cannot stop or modify this. It applies even if I get separate
permission from Linus to distribute his contributions under some other
conditions.
No, not true. I don't have the court citations handy, but it is well-settled
law that a right to distribute a derivative work is useless without also
having the right to distribute the original work from which the derivative
was made.
Huh? I have never argued that any contribution made by Linus could be or had
been licensed under GPLv3. Linus has clearly indicated, along with the works
that he distributes, that the code is only offered under GPLv2. However,
Linus cannot remove rights that other people grant to their code, even if he
modifies that code.
I don't know who you are talking to or what you are talking about. I haven't
seen anybody doing what you claim in this thread or anywhere else and I
certainly am not.
No, not true. Please read and understand GPLv2 section 6. If a work is
available under GPLv2+, and you receive that work (even if it's as part of
another work) you get it under GPLv2+. Nobody can take rights away.
Do you seriously not understand that a compilation right in "Great Works of
Fiction 2002-2006" doesn't give you the right to actually distribute the
works in it? You also receive Linus' compilation copyright under GPLv2, but
that has no effect on any case except when you wish to distribute the
compilation. It isn't enough by itself to distribute the original works.
Unfortunately, copyright law makes that impossible without assignment. If I
write a work and you add on to it, the resulting work is one we both hold
copyright to. Absent any assignment, you would need a license from each of
us to distribute the resulting combination.
Again, wishful thinking. Copyright law does not work that way and that's why
GPLv2 section 6 makes it clear that the license does *not* come from the
distributor but from the original author. It follows necessarily that if
there are multiple authors, there are multiple licenses.
No, that's not what I am saying. I am saying that if I distribute works
under GPLv2+ and you redistribute those works or works derived from them,
everyone you distribute those works to automatically receives a GPLv2+
license from me. That is what GPLv2 section 6 says, and you cannot modify
this process. You cannot take code I licensed under GPLv2+ and distribute it
"under GPLv2 only". You cannot interfere with or control the license's grant
of rights directly from me to the people you distribute to.
I'm not trying to weasel around anything. I'm trying to explain how GPLv2
actually operates. Complying with it and understanding it are not weaseling
around.
DS
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