On Thu, 2019-03-07 at 16:38 +0000, Pinegar, Kent T wrote: > All, > > There are two files in the xserver source code called xf86i2c.h and > xf86i2c.c. They contain copyrights by Itai Nahshon and Michael > Schimek; however, the top-level Xserve license on github does not > mention these two developers. Does anyone know what license would > cover these files.
Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer, and I'm certainly not your lawyer, so this is all just semi-informed guesswork. Short answer: not really, but probably MIT-like. Longer answer: that code seems to have come into being somewhere between XFree86 3.3.6 and 4.0. The contemporary documentation [1] says: "XFree86[tm] code without an explicit copyright or not explicitly marked as being in the public domain is covered by the XFree86 copyright/license as shown below." Where the license so mentioned [2] is a typical MIT variant. The "or" in that sentence is doing a lot of work, since the xf86i2c files _do_ have explicit copyright statements but no explicit license statement; the question is whether you believe a bare copyright statement means "obviously I meant the XFree86 license" or "obviously I meant the insane you-have-no-rights-to-this-work-at-all default that copyright lawyers foisted upon the world". The position of pretty much everybody distributing an XFree86-derived server since March 2000 (when 4.0 was released) has apparently been the former. Estoppel would (I would think, but again IANAL) preclude the named copyright holders from suddenly retroactively applying more restrictive terms. If you want stronger assurance than that, get your lawyers to track down the named individuals. If it makes you feel better, on a modern Linux system using a KMS driver, you do not end up using that code at all, so you could probably safely excise it from your own builds. [1] - http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/LICENSE1.html#1 [2] - http://www.xfree86.org/4.0/LICENSE2.html - ajax _______________________________________________ xorg@lists.x.org: X.Org support Archives: http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/xorg Info: https://lists.x.org/mailman/listinfo/xorg Your subscription address: %(user_address)s
