From: Peter Stuge <peter@stuge.se>
To: gentoo-dev@lists.gentoo.org
Subject: Re: [gentoo-dev] Guidance on distributed patented software
Date: Thu, 23 Sep 2021 15:52:33 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <20210923155233.20950.qmail@stuge.se> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <dc323502-54d8-5a7d-29f2-41a6d342cfe1@gentoo.org>
Joshua Kinard wrote:
> Hmm, it looks like dropbear is relying heavily on the ecc/ecdsa functions
> provided in libtomcrypt, and that library's homepage states all its code is
> public domain. Our ebuild has no bindist restrictions on that library.
> Perhaps that is how dropbear, and thus Red Hat, avoids the issues with
> licensing or patents?
Licenses apply to implementations and patents apply to inventions/ideas.
A software license can allow you to theoretically use an implementation
while a patent says no you can't without licensing that right separately.
The reverse is equally possible; an expired patent means that using the
invention/idea is not restricted by the patent anymore, but there may
still be no free/open source implementation (yet).
AIUI USE=-bindist is all three variants (swlicense_says_no || patent_says_no)
while USE=bindist promises that (swlicense_says_yes && patent_says_yes)
is guaranteed to be true at the cost of functionality?
//Peter
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2021-09-23 15:52 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 19+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2021-09-20 16:46 [gentoo-dev] Guidance on distributed patented software Alec Warner
2021-09-20 17:27 ` Rich Freeman
2021-09-20 18:15 ` Robin H. Johnson
2021-09-20 18:41 ` Ulrich Mueller
2021-09-20 19:20 ` Robin H. Johnson
2021-09-22 12:54 ` Joshua Kinard
2021-09-22 16:37 ` Robin H. Johnson
2021-09-23 5:54 ` Joshua Kinard
2021-09-23 15:52 ` Peter Stuge [this message]
[not found] ` <CAAr7Pr9a6cRbHDxkUbKwxabW8skh1izA7C2GqTE1XF8mg-CV0g@mail.gmail.com>
2021-09-24 7:46 ` Joshua Kinard
[not found] ` <20210924095510.6ff13620@computer>
2021-09-25 19:44 ` Joshua Kinard
2021-09-26 17:09 ` Peter Stuge
2021-09-26 19:20 ` Rich Freeman
2021-09-27 18:14 ` Marek Szuba
2021-09-27 21:09 ` Rich Freeman
2021-09-26 19:41 ` Sam James
2021-09-21 15:25 ` Andreas K. Huettel
2021-09-20 18:30 ` [gentoo-dev] " Ulrich Mueller
2021-09-26 6:38 ` Alec Warner
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