[Bug 480724] Review Request: djbdns - A Domain Name System by D. J. Bernstein

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https://bugzilla.redhat.com/show_bug.cgi?id=480724





--- Comment #16 from Mark Johnson <johnsonm at gmail.com>  2009-03-05 14:34:42 EDT ---
(In reply to comment #15)
> (In reply to comment #14)
> 
> > Whoah...is it legal to do that?  Take public domain software, make some
> > changes, and distribute the entire result under the GPL?
> 
> Absolutely. Anyone can pick up public domain software and do _whatever_ they
> want to it. Relicense it, make it proprietary, turn it into a play, wear it as
> a hat, anything.

Yes, but the original public domain bits are still public domain, and not
covered by the GPL:

http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#CombinePublicDomainWithGPL

Legal or not, my personal opinion is that commingling public domain and GPL
code is just asking for trouble. 

> > Note also that DJB's original copyright notice has been removed and I see no
> > mention of his release of djbdns into the public domain.  
> 
> While it might be good to mention that it is based on the Public Domain djbdns,
> there is no requirement that he do this. Also, there is no longer a copyright
> notice, because when DJB put it into the Public Domain, he officially abandoned
> copyright on the work.  

Your own comments:

"This code is in the Public Domain, should not be a legal issue as long as it
is
marked properly in the spec file (which it is). Lifting FE-Legal."  

Has there some further legal review since you made those remarks?

Required or not, I'd think it appropriate to reference DJB's explicit
abandonment of his copyright when removing his original copyright notice.

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