GRUB imports ZFS support

From: Robert Millan <rmh-AT-gnu.org> To: The development of GNU GRUB <grub-devel-AT-gnu.org> Subject: ZFS imported into GRUB Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 12:24:48 +0100 Message-ID: <AANLkTimy=6UqfWMnXHKK1DVNaxpEZU7CvMpneUHKor3e@mail.gmail.com> Cc: zfs-discuss-AT-opensolaris.org, developer-AT-lists.illumos.org Archive-link: Article, Thread

Hi, Following our new strategy with regard to Oracle code, we (GRUB maintainers) have decided to grant an exception to our usual policy and import ZFS code from grub-extras into official GRUB. Our usual policy is to require copyright assignment for all new code, so that FSF can use it to defend users' freedom in court. If that's not possible, at least a disclaimer asserting authorship (i.e. that no copyright infringement has been committed). The purpose of this, as always, is ensuring that GRUB is a legally safe codebase. The ZFS code that has been imported into GRUB derives from the OpenSolaris version of GRUB Legacy. On one hand, this code was released to the public under the terms of the GNU GPL. On the other, binary releases of Solaris included this modified GRUB, and as a result Oracle/Sun is bound by the GPL. We believe that these two factors give us very strong reassurance that: a) Oracle owns the copyright to this code and b) Oracle is licensing it under GPL and therefore it is completely safe to use this in GRUB. We're looking forward to this code import will foster collaboration on ZFS support for GRUB. Our understanding is that next version of Solaris will ship with GRUB 2, and so we expect the whole OpenSolaris ecosystem to do this move as well. We encourage downstream distributors to anticipate this by preparing their transition from the old, legacy version of GRUB (0.97) which is no longer supported by GRUB developers. Finally, a word about patents. Software patents are terribly harmful to free software, and to IT in general. We believe they should be abolished. However, until that happens, we need to take measures to protect our users. We recognize it is practically impossible for end users to archieve a situation where they're completely safe from patent infringement (even if they pay so-called "patent taxes" to specific companies). However, we encourage our users to make careful choices when importing technology that is designed in an in-door development model (rather than in the community), because it's prone to be heavily patented. This is the reason why, when we (the GNU project) developed the GPL, we included certain provisions in it to ensure a patent holder can't benefit from the freedoms we gave them and at the same time use patents to undermine these freedoms for others. Thanks to this, and due to the fact that Oracle is bound to the terms of the GNU GPL when it comes to GRUB, we believe this renders patents covering ZFS basically harmless to GRUB users. If the patents covering GRUB are held by Oracle, they can't use them against GRUB users, and if they're held by other parties, the GPL provisions will prevent Oracle from paying a tax only for themselves, so if they will fight alongside the community instead of betraying it. Let this serve as yet another example on why so-called "permissive" licenses aren't always a guarantee that the code covered by them can be used freely. If you intend for your code to be free for all users, always use the latest version of the GPL. -- Robert Millan