KEVIN WROTE:
> HI, ALL
> I WANT TO PORT 4.4BSD-LITE'S TCP/IP SOURCE CODE TO MY
OWN OS KERNEL.
> MY OS KERNEL IS GPL LICENCED.
> IS IT POSSIBLE FOR ME TO MODIFY 4.4BSD-LITE'S SOURCE
CODE AND CHANGE ITS LICENCE FROM 4.4BSD-LITE LICENCE TO GPL
LICENCE?
YOU CANNOT *CHANGE* THE LICENSE TO ANYTHING IF YOU DON'T
HAVE EXPLICIT
PERMISSION FROM THE ORIGINAL AUTHORS (THE PEOPLE WHO CREATED
THE FILE
WITH THE LICENSE TEXT IN IT).
YOU CAN *USE* THE BSD LICENSED SOURCE IN YOUR GPL PROJECT
WITHOUT ANY
RESTRICTIONS OR REQUIREMENTS.
YOU CAN *ADD* YOUR OWN COPYRIGHT CLAUSE AND/OR LICENSE TO
THE FILES IF
YOU CHANGE THEM. IN THIS PARTICULAR CASE THE VIRULENT ASPECT
OF THE GPL
COMES INTO PLAY SO THE REST OF THE SOURCE BECOMES TAINTED
WITH GPL, AND
IN EFFECT BECOMES GPL-LICENSED (WHICH IS ALLOWED). BUT YOU
MUST NOT
*REMOVE* THE ORIGINAL BSD LICENSE TEXT AND ITS COPYRIGHT
LINES EVEN IN
THIS CASE.
IF YOU SUSPECT ANYONE MIGHT SUE YOU FOR IT, DON'T RELY ON
WHAT I SAID;
YOU MUST SEEK OPINION FROM A LAWYER.
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