Messages in this thread |  | | | Date | Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:31:35 +0100 (CET) | | From | Gerhard Wiesinger <> | | Subject | ESX Server - GPL violation - found proof !?! |
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Hello,
After looking for Buslogic VMWare docs I found the following: There were often rumors that ESX server is based on Linux GPL code. I think I've found a prove for it from an official VMWare/EMC document (just save the PDF document for reference): http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx_15_manual.pdf p.269: ESX Server's Mylex (Buslogic) driver is based on the Linux BusLogic version 2.1.15 driver.
p.270: The ESX Server uses two different drivers to support the device family, one based on the Linux ncr53c8xx version 3.4.3b driver and the other on the sym53c8xx version 1.7.3 driver.
More clearly stated that ESX SERVER is based on Linux driver GPL code and therefore ESX Server is derived work of Linux GPL v2 code and therefore the WHOLE ESX SERVER has to be put under GPL v2 (even when run as userland program of a Linux kernel, because the ESX source/driver depends on the Linux kernel and Linux GPL code is linked).
This is at least valid for VMWare ESX server 1.5.
Any comments? Any plans?
Ciao, Gerhard Wiesinger
-- http://www.wiesinger.com
Some references: http://blog.scottlowe.org/2007/08/19/the-linux-kernel-binary-modules-and-esx-server/ http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/08/16/vmware_derived_from_linux/ http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/08/14/1618241 http://communities.vmware.com/thread/98813?start=15&tstart=0 http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_infrastructure_3/3_5#open_source http://downloads.vmware.com/d/info/datacenter_downloads/vmware_vsphere_4/4#open_source
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