From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: "Lewin A.R.W. Edwards" To: "Wilson Kwan" Cc: Subject: Re: [ECOS] License restrictions Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 07:01:00 -0000 Message-id: <4.3.2.7.2.20010323095817.00b15240@mail.larwe.com> References: <5.0.0.25.2.20010321110343.00ada060@pop.phnx.qwest.net> <3AB8EF0A.A355151D@redhat.com> <002f01c0b3a8$dc186dc0$0b02a8c0@obiwan> X-SW-Source: 2001-03/msg00388.html >What if someone were to emulate a library or device API of a GPLd piece of >code but did not use any of the GPL code? Is it legal to write *from >scratch* a new driver to emulate the interface for interoperability, this of >course would involve looking at the header files at a minimum? At its worst, this becomes a "clean-room" exercise like AMI performed on the original PC BIOS in order to clone it. The easiest way to ensure that you've got a provable case is to hire an outside entity to look at the existing code and draw up a spec document. The spec document should contain no code, it should just document data structures and expected behavior. You then write your driver to conform to the spec document. It seems a shame that the free software movement should cause such legal tangling... *sigh* === Lewin A.R.W. Edwards (Embedded Engineer) Work: http://www.digi-frame.com/ Personal: http://www.zws.com/ and http://www.larwe.com/ "Und setzet ihr nicht das Leben ein, Nie wird euch das Leben gewonnen sein."