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Tuesday, June 10 2003 @ 08:22 PM EDT
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Well, well, what have we here?: "A source close to SCO, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told eWEEK that parts of the Linux kernel code were copied into the Unix System V source tree by former or current SCO employees."
This, the article says, would be a violation of the GPL, if SCO incorporated GPL Linux kernel source code into SCO's (then Caldera) "Linux Kernel Personality", without giving the changes back or without displaying a copyright notice giving credit for the Linux code. It also might explain mysterious identical code. But the real issue with the GPL isn't credit; it's access to the source. You can use Linux code all you want, but if you do, and then you release you product that has that GPL code in it in a public release, it is now all GPL. This is the heh heh notorious "viral" effect Microsoft likes to warn about. I'd say that if this story is true, it's a big problem for SCO's lawsuit.
The anonymous source assisted with the project to bring the two kernels closer and says SCO "basically reimplemented the Linux kernel with functions available in the Unix kernel to build what is now know as the Linux Kernel Personality (LKP) in SCO Unix."
Of course, Slashdot is all over this. One cute post from Bagels, in response to SCO reportedly saying they "never used any of the Linux kernel code" : "I suppose that means they never tested any of their code? What kind of contribution to Linux could they possibly make coding like that? :)"
UserFriendly's SCO cartoon is also funny.
Linus Torvalds has asked to see SCO's code, starting back in December according to SCO, but he can't sign the NDA, obviously, and still do his work because of the particular terms of SCO's NDA, so he asked to be allowed to see it without signing it. SCO refused. I don't see how that can help them once they get to court. While it's conceivable that there is infringing code, and if there is Linus would be the first to admit it and fix it, he can't fix it unless he can see it. So that means the ball is now firmly in SCO's court. However, Linus is quoted in the article as saying, "The code will have to come out eventually. I can wait. I don't have to like it, of course." He means he doesn't have to like being made to wait.
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