Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 31 Mar 2011 16:24:38 +0100 | From | Alan Cox <> | Subject | Re: GPL License Query on a Plain Linux Application |
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On Thu, 31 Mar 2011 20:49:34 +0530 Ramya Desai <ramya.desai@gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear All, > > I have written an application where it uses plain system calls like > open, read, write etc. and runs in the user space. My question here, > is this application comes under GPL?
This is a technical not a legal list - I would ask the Linux Foundation if you want a legal answer.
In general though your question seems really to be "is my application a derivative work of the kernel". That would be a surprising interpretation (speaking as a non-lawyer) but also one the community wanted to be sure never occurred. Hence the COPYING file for the kernel itself states:
NOTE! This copyright does *not* cover user programs that use kernel services by normal system calls - this is merely considered normal use of the kernel, and does *not* fall under the heading of "derived work". Also note that the GPL below is copyrighted by the Free Software Foundation, but the instance of code that it refers to (the Linux kernel) is copyrighted by me and others who actually wrote it.
Alan
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