From 20f2339a1f346564418f488f5f4ad9364f4e456d Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: "Bradley M. Kuhn" Date: Wed, 11 Mar 2015 13:15:01 -0700 Subject: [PATCH] VMware Lawsuit FAQ entry: Why doesn't FSF enforce? This FAQ and its answer explain why the FSF can't take care of enforcement for this particular matter. --- .../linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html | 17 +++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 17 insertions(+) diff --git a/www/conservancy/static/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html b/www/conservancy/static/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html index 02c03f83..9f219197 100644 --- a/www/conservancy/static/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html +++ b/www/conservancy/static/linux-compliance/vmware-lawsuit-faq.html @@ -148,6 +148,23 @@ +
I +see FSF's +statement of support, but why +isn't FSF enforcing in +this case?
+ +
While FSF are the authors and license steward of the GNU GPL, it's up to +the copyright holder to enforce GPL. VMware created an operating system by +combining parts of the kernel named Linux with their own proprietary code, +and then added BusyBox to provide the userspace operating system components. +As such, ESXi is not +a traditional GNU/Linux +system. FSF has many copyrights of its own, but these are almost +exclusively on various parts of the GNU system, not on the kernel, Linux. As +such, FSF probably does not have copyright interests available to directly +enforce the GPL regarding the primary issue in this case.
+
I care about copyleft and the GPL. How can I help?
Conservancy needs