<h2 id="linux">GPL Compliance Project For Linux Developers</h2>

<p>In May

2012, <a href="/news/2012/may/29/compliance/">Conservancy

launched</a> the <cite>GPL

Compliance Project for Linux Developers</cite>, which handles compliance and

enforcement activities on behalf of more than a dozen Linux copyright

holders.</p>

<p>The GPL Compliance Project for Linux Developers is comprised of copyright

holders in the kernel, Linux, who have contributed to Linux under its

license, <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html">the

GPLv2</a>. These copyright holders have formally asked Conservancy to engage

in compliance efforts for their copyrights in the Linux kernel.  In addition,

some developers have directly assigned their copyrights on Linux to Conservancy,

so Conservancy also enforces the GPL on Linux via its own copyrights in Linux.</p>

<p>Linux copyright holders who wish to assign copyright to or sign an enforcement agreement with

Conservancy should

  contact <a href="mailto:linux-services@sfconservancy.org">&lt;linux-services@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>.

  In 2016,

  Conservancy <a href="/news/2016/nov/03/linux-compliance-agreements/">made

    public the template agreements used as part of this project</a>; both the

  <a href="/docs/blank_linux-enforcement-agreement.pdf">non-anonymous</a> and

  <a href="/docs/blank_anonymous-linux-enforcement-agreement.pdf">anonymous</a>

  versions are available.  However, please <strong>do not</strong> sign these

  unilaterally without contacting and discussing

  with <a href="mailto:linux-services@sfconservancy.org">&lt;linux-services@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>

  first.</p>

<h2>The Debian Copyright Aggregation Project</h2>

<p>In August 2015, <a href="/news/2015/aug/17/debian/">Conservancy announced the Debian Copyright Aggregation

Project</a>.  This project allows Debian contributors to assign copyrights to

Conservancy, or sign enforcement agreements allowing Conservancy to enforce

Free and Open Source (FOSS) licenses on their behalf.  Many Debian contributors

have chosen each of these options already, and more continue to join.</p>

<p>Debian contributors who wish to assign copyright to or sign an enforcement agreement with

Conservancy should contact <a href="mailto:debian-services@sfconservancy.org">&lt;debian-services@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>.</p>

<h2>Conservancy's Commitment to Copyleft License Compliance</h2>

<p>Conservancy is dedicated to encouraging all users of software to comply

  with Free Software licenses. Toward this goal, in its compliance efforts,

  Conservancy helps distributors of Free Software in a friendly spirit of

  cooperation and participation.  In this spirit, Conservancy has co-published,

  follow in their compliance efforts</a>.

  Also in collaboration with the FSF, Conservancy also sponsors

  the <a href="https://copyleft.org/guide/"><cite>Copyleft and the GNU

  General Public License:A Comprehensive Tutorial and Guide</cite></a>,

  which <a href="/news/2014/nov/07/copyleft-org/">formally

  launched in fall 2014</a>.  The Guide includes tutorial materials about

  copyleft and compliance with copyleft licenses,

  including <a href="https://copyleft.org/guide/comprehensive-gpl-guidepa2.html"><cite>A

  Practical Guide to GPL Compliance</cite></a>.  The materials

  on <a href="https://copyleft.org/">copyleft.org</a> have been developed and

  improved since 2002, and are themselves copylefted, and developed

  collaboratively in public.</p>

<p>However, the Guide is admittedly a large document, so for those who are

  interested in a short summary of describing how Conservancy handles GPL

  enforcement and compliance

  work, <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2012/feb/01/gpl-enforcement/">this

  blog post outlining the compliance process</a> is likely the best source.</p>

<h2>Reporting GPL Violations To Us</h2>

<p>If you are aware of a license violation or compliance issue regarding

  Debian, Linux, or

  any <a href="https://sfconservancy.org/members/current/">Conservancy member

  project</a> (&mdash; in particular BusyBox, Evergreen, Inkscape, Mercurial,

  Samba, Sugar Labs, or Wine),

  please <a href="mailto:compliance@sfconservancy.org">contact us by email at

    &lt;compliance@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>.</p>

<p>If you think you've found a GPL violation, we encourage you to

   read <a href="http://ebb.org/bkuhn/blog/2009/11/08/gpl-enforcement.html">this

   personal blog post by our Distinguished Technologist, Bradley M. Kuhn</a>,

   about good practices in discovering and reporting GPL violations.  (We'd

   also like someone to convert the text of that blog post into a patch for

   <a href="http://compliance.guide">The Compliance Guide on

   copyleft.org</a>; submit it

   via <a href="https://k.copyleft.org/guide/">k.copyleft.org</a>.)</p>

<h2>Donate to Support This Work</h2>

<p>Finally, Conservancy welcomes <a href="#donate-box"

  class="donate-now">donations</a> in support of our GPL Compliance Projects,

  and we encourage you to become a <a href="/supporter/">an official

  Supporter of Software Freedom Conservancy</a>. </p>

</div>

{% endblock %}

the dialogue ends with reasonable assurance for both sides that additional

violations are not waiting to be discovered.

(<a href="http://gpl.guide/pristine-example">Good examples of

compliance</a> already exist to help distributors understand their

obligations.)</li>

<li><strong>Community-oriented compliance processes should extend the

benefit of GPLv3-like termination, even for GPLv2-only

works. </strong> GPLv2 terminates all copyright permissions at the

moment of violation, and that termination is permanent. GPLv3's

termination provision allows first-time violators automatic

restoration of distribution rights when they correct the violation

promptly, and gives the violator a precise list of copyright holders

whose forgiveness it needs. GPLv3's collaborative spirit regarding

termination reflects a commitment to and hope for future cooperation

and collaboration. It's a good idea to follow this approach in

compliance situations stemming from honest mistakes, even when the

violations are on works under GPLv2.</li>

</ul>

<p>These principles are not intended as a strict set of rules.

Achieving compliance requires an understanding of the violator's

situation, not so as to excuse the violation, but so as to see how

to bring that violator into compliance.  Copyleft licenses do not

state specific enforcement methodologies (other than license termination itself)

in part because the real world situation of GPL violations varies;

rigidity impedes success. </p>

<p>In particular, this list of principles purposely does not seek to

create strict criteria and/or “escalation and mediation

rules” for enforcement action. Efforts to do that limit the

ability of copyright holders to use copyleft licenses for their

intended effect: to stand up for the rights of users to copy, modify,

and redistribute free software.</p>

<p>The GPL,

enforced when necessary according to these principles, provides a

foundation for respectful, egalitarian, software-sharing

communities.

</p>

<div class="doc-footer">

  <p>This document is also published on <a href="https://fsf.org/licensing/enforcement-principles">FSF's site</a>.</p>

  <p>We revise these principles from time to time based on community feedback.  Please <a href="https://lists.sfconservancy.org/mailman/listinfo/principles-discuss">subscribe to our principles-discuss list</a> to follow the discussion and share your thoughts with us.</p>

</div>

<p>Copyright &copy; 2015, Free Software Foundation, Inc., Software Freedom Conservancy, Inc., Bradley M. Kuhn, Allison Randal, Karen M. Sandler.

<br/>Licensed under the <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>.

<a href="https://fsf.org/licensing/enforcement-principles">[2]</a>) are preserved in modified and/or redistributed versions.</p>

{% endblock %}

행위를 바로잡고 차후 컴플라이언스를 위해 공식적으로 계획을 수립하겠다는

약속(서면으로)을 받기 전까지는 어떠한 보상도 지급 받지 않아야 한다.</li>

<li><strong>커뮤니티 중심의 컴플라이언스 노력은 위반 사례에 대한 세심한 확인 작업을

시작으로 하고, 포괄적인 분석을 실시한 후에만 종료한다.</strong> 이는 어떤 기관이 GPL 을

위반했다고 비난하기 전에 관련 보고와 위반 내용을 완전히 확인해야 함을 의미한다.

그리고 나서 초기 보고에서 확인된 것과 관련 라이선스의 조항과 관련한 문제 외

컴플라이언스 문제를 파악하고 바로잡기 위해 모든 관련 소프트웨어를 살펴보아야

한다. 이는 양측의 합리적인 조치로 대화를 마무리하여 차후 부가적인 위반 사항이

발견되지 않도록 하기 위해 중요하다 (배포자들이 그들의 의무를 이해할 수 있도록

도와줄 <a href="http://gpl.guide/pristine-example">컴플라이언스 예시</a>가

  이미 마련되어 있다).</li>

<li><strong>커뮤니티 중심의 컴플라이언스 프로세스에 GPLv3 의 권한 박탈 조항의 혜택을 확대

적용 시키고, GPLv2 에 기반한 작업에도 이를 적용시켜야 한다.</strong> GPLv2 는 위반 시

모든 저작권 승인을 영구적으로 박탈시킨다. GPLv3 의 권한 박탈(termination)

조항은 최초 위반자일 경우 위법 사항을 즉시 시정 시 배포권을 자동적으로

복원시키고 선처를 요청할 저작권 소유자의 명확한 명단을 해당 위반자에게

제공한다. 권한 박탈과 관련한 GPLv3 의 협업 정신은 향후 협력과 협업에 대한

약속과 희망을 반영하고 있다. 정직한 실수에 근거한 컴플라이언스 상황에 이러한

접근방법을 적용시키는 것은 좋은 아이디어이며 위반 사례가 GPLv2 의 의거한

  작업일 경우에도 마찬가지이다.</li>

</ul>

<p>이 원칙은 엄격한 규정으로써 이를 적용하기 위함이 아니다. 컴플라이언스를

달성하기 위해서는 위반자의 상황에 대한 이해가 요구되며 이는 위반에 대한 핑계를

찾기 위함이 아니라 해당 위법자를 컴플라이언스 이행으로 이끌 수 있는 방법을

파악하기 위함이다. 카피레프트 라이선스는(라이선스 권한 박탈 그 자체는 제외)

구체적인 시행 방법을 기술하고 있지 않는데 실제 GPL 위반 상황이 매우 다양하고,

  너무 혹독한 규제가 오히려 성공을 저해하기 때문이다.</p>

<p>특히, 본 원칙 목록은 엄격한 기준 및/혹은 시행 조치 관련 “상정 및 중재

규칙” 등을 수립하지 않고 있다. 이를 위한 노력이 오히려 소프트웨어를 카피,

변형, 재배포할 수 있는 사용자 권리를 옹호하고자 하는 저작권자들의 카피레프트

라이선스를 사용 능력을 저해할 수 있다.</p>

<p>GPL 은 필요시 이러한 원칙에 의거 시행되었을 때 존경받는, 평등한 소프트웨어

공유 커뮤니티 형성을 위한 기반을 제공한다.</p>

<p></em>[ 본 문서는 <a href="https://fsf.org/licensing/enforcement-principles">FSF

    사이트</a> 에서도 확인할 수 있습니다. ]</em></p>

<p>Copyright &copy; 2015, Free Software Foundation, Inc., Software Freedom Conservancy, Inc., Bradley M. Kuhn, Allison Randal, Karen M. Sandler.

<br/>Licensed under the <a rel="license" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0">Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License</a>.

<br/>에 의거

허가됨. 해당 라이선스의 제 3 조제(a)항제(1)호제(A)목제(i)단 및

제 3 조제(a)항제(1)호제(A)목제(v)단에 의거하여 본 문서의 저작권자는 본 문서의

<a href="https://fsf.org/licensing/enforcement-principles">[2]</a>)

유지되기를 요청하는 바입니다.<br/>

이 번역자료는 한국저작권위원회(www.copyright.or.kr)의 지원으로 번역, 배포 되었습니다.<br/>

This content has been translated and distributed by <a href="http://www.copyright.or.kr">Korean Copyright Commission</a>.</p>

{% endblock %}

<h3>This is a matter of principle.</h3>

<p>Free and open source software is everywhere and in everything; yet our

  software freedom is constantly eroded.</p>

<p>We want companies to incorporate our software into new products, but there

are a few simple rules.  Copylefted free software is so prevalent because

there's no way a company can compete without using a significant amount of

free software to bring products to market in reasonable time. They get so

much benefit from our work.  Allowing the whole community to review, use,

improve and work with the code seems very little to ask in return.  Copyleft

also ensures competitors cannot undercut those who contribute.  Without active enforcement, the GPL is

effectively no different from a non-copyleft license.</p>

<p>What point is there for companies to make sure that they're compliant if

there are no consequences when the GPL is violated? Many will continue to

ignore the rules without enforcement.  We know that there are so many

companies that willingly comply and embrace GPL as part of their business.

Some are temporarily out of compliance and need to be brought up to speed,

but willingly comply once they realize there is an issue.  Sadly, VMware sits

in the rare but infamous class of perpetually non-compliant companies. VMware

has been aware of their noncompliance for years but actively refuses to do

the right thing.  Help us do right by those who take the code in the spirit

it was given and comply with copyleft, and stop those don't.</p>

<p>We know that copyleft isn't a favorite licensing strategy for some in our

community.  Even so, this case will help bring clarity on the question of

combined and derivative works, and is essential to the future of all software

freedom.  This case deserves support from copyleft and non-copyleft free

software communities alike.</p>

<h3>Show you care</h3>

<p>Bad actors have become complacent because they think you don't care.  A

  strong show of public support for Conservancy and Christoph's position will

  help our legal case and demonstrate the interpretive context for it.

  Please <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate</a> to our campaign to enforce the GPL.  Help Conservancy

  increase its number of individual donors, so we have clear evidence to show

  bad actors that the GPL matters to the individuals in our community.

  After you <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate</a>, go and tell the world: &ldquo;Play by the rules, @VMware. I defend the #GPL with Christoph &amp; @Conservancy. #DTRTvmware  Help at https://sfconservancy.org/supporter/ &rdquo; on your blog or microblog.

  </p>

<h3>Isn't the combined works and/or derivative works question a legal grey area?</h3>

<p>We don't think so, but this case will let the court to decide that question.

Either way, it's beneficial to our entire community to find out what the

information</a>.)</p>

<p>Help us pay for this expensive lawsuit and to generally defend software

  freedom and the GPL.  Help us show the world that copyleft matters.  We are excited 

  to announce that we already reached an anonymous match for this campaign, where every dollar donated 

  was matched up to $50,000. However, that $100,000 is just an initial step

  and there is so much GPL enforcement work to do.  So, please

  donate now: by becoming <a href="/supporter/">a Conservancy Supporter</a> or

  via <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">donate link on the right</a>.</p>

<h3>Want To Know More?</h3>

<p>Watch the video below of Conservancy Executive Director, Karen Sandler,

  <a href="/news/2015/mar/31/libreplanet/">delivering a keynote on this topic

  at

    LibrePlanet 2015</a>:</p>

<p>

 <video controls

         preload="auto" class="video-js vjs-default-skin"

         data-setup='{"height": 276,

                      "width": 640 }'>

    <source src="https://media.libreplanet.org/mgoblin_media/media_entries/113/karen-sandler-keynote-2015.medium.webm"

              type="video/webm; codecs="vp8, vorbis""

             />

 </video>

</p>

    the lawsuit</a>.</p>

{% endblock %}

{% block subtitle %}Copyleft Compliance Projects - {% endblock %}

{% block submenuselection %}VMwareLawsuitFAQ{% endblock %}

{% block content %}

<h1>Frequently Asked Questions about Christoph Hellwig's VMware Lawsuit</h1>

<p>Conservancy maintains this

  <abbr title="Frequently Asked Questions">FAQ</abbr> list regarding

  <a href="/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/">Christoph Hellwig's lawsuit against VMware

  in Germany over alleged GPL violations on Linux</a> as a service to the

  Free Software community, and in particular, the copyleft community.  Conservancy

  realizes this lawsuit generates many questions and interest

  from the community.  Legal counsel (both Conservancy's own, and

  Christoph's lawyer, Till Jaeger) correctly advise us to limit our public

  comments regarding specific details of the case while litigation remains

  pending in court.  Nevertheless, Conservancy, as a

  non-profit charity serving the public good, seeks to be as transparent as

  possible.  If you have additional questions you'd like to see answered

  here, please <a href="mailto:info@sfconservancy.org">email

  &lt;info@sfconservancy.org&gt;</a>, but understand that we may often need

  to answer: <q>We cannot comment on this while litigation is pending</q>.</p>

<dl>

  <dt>Who is the Plaintiff in the lawsuit?</dt>

  <dd>Christoph is one of most active developers of the Linux kernel. He has

   contributed 279,653 lines of code to the latest Linux 3.19 kernel, and

   thus ranks 20th among the 1,340 developers involved in that release.

   Christoph also ranks 4th among those who have reviewed third-party source

   code, and he has tirelessly corrected and commented on other developers'

   contributions.</dd>

  <dt id="court-documents">Are the court documents released?</dt>

  <dd>Not currently.  Court proceedings are not public by default in Germany

  (unlike in the USA).  Conservancy will continue to update this FAQ with

  information that Conservancy knows about the case.  We would all also

  welcome an agreement with VMware whereby both sides would agree to publish

  all Court documents.  Unfortunately, VMware has explicitly asked for the

  filings not to be published.   Accordingly, Conservancy itself has not

  even been able to review VMware's statement of defense nor Christoph's

  response to that statement of defense.</dd>

  <dt id="funding">Who's funding this lawsuit?</dt>

  <dd>Conservancy has engaged in a grant agreement with Christoph Hellwig for

  the purposes of pursuing this specific legal action in Germany.

  Conservancy is funding this legal action specifically as part of

  Conservancy's program activity in

  Project for Linux Developers</a>.</dd>

  <dt id="combined-and-derivative-works">Is this the Great Test Case of Combined / Derivative Works?</dt>

  <dd>This case is specifically regarding a combined work that VMware

  allegedly created by combining their own code (“vmkernel”) with

  portions of Linux's code, which was licensed only under GPLv2.  As such,

  this, to our knowledge, marks the first time an enforcement case is

  exclusively focused on this type of legal question relating to GPL.

  However, there are so many different ways to make combined and/or

  derivative works that are covered by GPL that no single case could possibly

  include all such issues. </dd>

  <dt id="why-lawsuit">Why must you file a lawsuit?  Isn't there any other way to convince

    VMware to comply with GPL?</dt>

  <dd><p>Neither Conservancy nor Christoph takes this action lightly nor without

  exhausting every other possible alternative first.  This lawsuit is the

    outgrowth of years of effort to convince VMware to comply with GPL.</p>

    <p>In October 2011, Conservancy received a GPL violation report on

  BusyBox for VMware's ESXi products.  Conservancy opened the matter in its

  usual, friendly, and non-confrontational way.  Nevertheless, VMware

  immediately referred Conservancy to VMware's outside legal counsel in the

  USA, and Conservancy negotiated with VMware's legal counsel throughout

  late 2011, 2012 and 2013.  We exchanged and reviewed

  <a title="Complete, Corresponding Source" href="https://copyleft.org/guide/comprehensive-gpl-guidech6.html#x9-470005.2.1">CCS</a> candidates, and

  admittedly, VMware made substantial and good efforts toward compliance on

  BusyBox.  However, VMware still refused to fix a few minor and one major

  compliance problem that we discovered during the process.  Namely, there

  was a major violation regarding Linux itself that ultimately became

  Christoph's key complaint in this lawsuit.</p>

 <p>Meanwhile, when Conservancy realized in late 2012 there might be a major

 Linux violation still present in VMware's ESXi products, Conservancy

 representatives sought every industry contact we had for assistance,

 including those from trade associations, companies (both competitors and

 collaborators with VMware), and everyone else we could think of who might be

 able to help us proceed with friendly negotiations that would achieve

 compliance.  While we cannot name publicly the people we asked for help

 to convince VMware to comply, they include some of the most notable

 executives, diplomats, and engineering managers in the Linux community.  No

 one was able to assist Conservancy in convincing VMware to comply with the

 GPL.  Then, in early 2014, VMware's outside legal counsel in the USA finally

 took a clear and hard line with Conservancy stating that they would not

 comply with the GPL on Linux and argued (in our view, incorrectly) that they

 were already in compliance.</p>

 VMware's lawyers to comply.  Those events were then followed by a year of

   work by Christoph and Till to achieve compliance in a separate action.</p>

 <p>Simply put, Conservancy and Christoph fully exhausted every possible

 non-litigation strategy and tactic to convince VMware to do the right thing

 before filing this litigation.</p>

  </dd>    

  <dt>What are VMware's primary defenses for their alleged copyright

    infringement?</dt>

  <dd>With the guidance of counsel, Christoph was able to provide Conservancy

  with a high-level summary of VMware's statement of defense, which we share

  in this FAQ.  Specifically, VMware's statement of defense primarily focuses

  on two issues.  First, VMware questions Christoph's copyright interest in

  the Linux kernel and his right to bring this action.  Second, VMware claims

  vmklinux is an “interoperability module” which communicates

  through a stable interface called VMK API.</dd>

  <dt>How did Christoph respond to VMware's statement of defense?</dt>

  <dd>Christoph's response discusses his extensive contributions to the Linux

  kernel and disputes the technical merits of VMware's assertions. The

  response points out that vmklinux is <strong>not</strong> an

  interoperability module, but rather an arbitrary separation of the Linux

  derived module from vmkernel.   Specifically, vmklinux is nonfunctional

  with any non-ESX OS, and vmklinux is tied intimately to a specific version

  of ESXi.  Vmklinux does not allow reuse of unmodified Linux drivers in

  binary or source form.  Christoph further points out that if the Court

  allows proprietarization of an arbitrary split portion of GPL'd computer

  programs, it could allow redistributors to trivially bypass the strong

  copyleft terms found in the GPL.  Finally, the response explains that

  vmkernel and vmklinux don't “communicate over an interface”,

  rather they run in the same process as a single computer program.  Thus,

  VMK API, as used by vmklinux, is not an “interface” as set

  forth in

  the <a href="http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32009L0024&from=EN">EU

      Directive 2009/24/EC</a>.</dd>

  <dt id="tech">Can you explain further how VMware incorporated code from Linux into

  their kernel?</dt>

  <dd>

  <p id="diagram">

    Conservancy prepared this diagram to show the technical situation as we

    understand it.  The diagram compares the technical architecture of a full,

    running Linux kernel with a full, running VMware kernel:

    <p>

    </p>

    <p>If you want to download the diagram, it's available

    (German)</a>.</p>

  </dd>

  <dt>Can you explain further in words (rather than a picture) about the central

  component in ESXi that the lawsuit alleges violates the GPL?</dt>

<dd>

    <p>The GPL violation at issue involves VMware's ESXi product.

    Conservancy independently reviewed ESXi 5.5 and its incomplete

      <abbr title="complete, corresponding source">CCS</abbr>

    release as part of our GPL enforcement efforts described above.</p>

    <p>Conservancy's preliminary investigation indicated that the operating

    system kernel of VMware ESXi product consists of three key components:

        <ul>

          <li> the proprietary component &ldquo;vmkernel&rdquo;, which is

            released in binary form only,</li>

            <li>the kernel module &ldquo;vmklinux&rdquo;, which contains modified Linux

Code, and for which (at least some) source code is provided.

            <li>other kernel modules with device drivers, most of which are

            modified Linux drivers, and for which (at least some) source code

              is provided.</li>

        </ul>

    <p>Conservancy examined the incomplete CCS alongside the

           binary “vmkernel” component.  Such examination indicates that functions

           in “vmkernel” do make function calls to Linux's kernel code

      in the usual way for a single program written in C.</p></dd>

    <dt>Doesn't VMware's &ldquo;shim layer&rdquo; insulate them from GPL

    obligations and allow them to keep certain code in their kernel

    proprietary?</dt>

    <dd>

    <p>Many in the media have talked about the possibility that VMware might

    use some so-called “shim layer” between Linux code and

    VMware's proprietary code.  While, for decades, there has been much talk of

    various mechanisms of GPL obligation avoidance, Conservancy believes that

    merely modifying technical details of a combination's construction

    does not typically influence the legal analysis in a combined or

    derivative work scenario.</p>

    <p>Furthermore, the technical details of VMware's alleged GPL violation

    do not even mirror the typical scenarios that have usually been called

    “shim layers”.  Conservancy's analysis of VMware's ESXi

    product, in fact, indicates that VMware rather flagrantly combined Linux

    code in their own kernel, and evidence seems to indicate the work as a

    whole was developed by modifying Linux code in tandem with

    modifications to &ldquo;vmkernel&rdquo; in a tightly coupled manner.</p>

<li>Enter the number of servers you plan to install on (e.g., 1).  Click

  &ldquo;Continue&rdquo;.</li>

<li>If the &ldquo;VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.5 Update 2 &ndash;

  Binaries&rdquo; section is not expanded, click the plus sign next to it.</li>

<li>Click the &ldquo;Manually Download&rdquo; link that's beside &ldquo;ESXi

  5.5 Update 2 ISO image (Includes VMware Tools)&rdquo;.</li>

<li>Confirm that the SHA-1 hash matches the published one (9475938b51cafc86c8b17d09f2493cb6b4fae927).</li>

<li>Mount (or open via some other means) the

downloaded <code>VMware-VMvisor-Installer-5.5.0.update02-2068190.x86_64.iso</code>.</li>

<li>Find the <code>k.b00</code> file in the root directory.  Extract it

using <code>zcat k.b00 &gt; vmvisor64-vmkernel</code> (or a similar command).

Repeat the steps described above using <code>objdump -x

vmvisor64-vmkernel</code>.</li>

<li id="vmklinux">To retrieve <code>vmklinux_9</code> you will need to install

ESXi on your system by booting the ISO and following the instructions.  Once

booted, you can then enable SSH access using “Customize System/View Logs ->

Troubleshooting Options -> Enable SSH”.  Login to the system with SSH

and then run <code>find /vmfs -name misc_dri.v00 -print</code>.  On the

resulting file, run <code>zcat misc_dri.v00 &gt; misc_dri.vmtar</code> then

<code>vmtar -x misc_dri.vmtar -o misc_dri.tar</code>.  You can then extract

<code>misc_dri.tar</code> using the usual <code>tar</code> to extract

<code>usr/lib/vmware/vmkmod/vmklinux_9</code>.  The <code>misc_dri.v00</code>

file is also available next to <code>k.b00</code> in the root directory of

the ISO (mentioned above), but the <code>vmtar</code> command itself is only

available when logged into an ESXi system. <code>vmtar</code> can be found

at <code>bin/vmtar</code> inside

<code>sb.v00</code> on the ISO, but one needs <code>vmtar</code> to open

<code>sb.v00</code>, similar to <code>misc_dri.v00</code> above.</li>

</ol>

  <p>Note that VMware may present you with <abbr title="End User Licensing Agreement">EULA</abbr>s and <abbr title="Terms of Service">ToS</abbr> when you download

  software from VMware's website.  Conservancy strongly suggests that you review these

  terms in great detail with the assistance of your own legal counsel before

  downloading the software and/or engaging in the process that Conservancy

  discusses above.</p>

<dt id="similarity-analysis">How do you know Christoph's code is present in

  VMware's work?</dt>

<dd>Conservancy

comparison analysis between Christoph's code and VMware's code</a>. This

particular analysis uses a two step process: (a) use Linux's public Git logs

to find Christoph's contributions from Christoph, and (b) use a widely

accepted and heavily academically cited tool, CCFinderX, to show that VMware

copied Christoph's code into their product.</dd>

<dt id="appeal">I heard that Christoph's case was dismissed.  Is that

  true?</dt>

  <dd>There was a ruling in July 2016 in the Hamburg District Court, which

    dismissed Christoph's case against VMware.  The ruling concerned German

    evidence law and the Court did not rule on the merits of the case. The

    ruling centered around German evidentary rules related to documenting

    Christoph's contributions that appear in VMware's product.

    In <a href="http://bombadil.infradead.org/~hch/vmware/2016-08-09.html">a

    statement on his website</a>, Christoph Hellwig announced that he will

    appeal the ruling. Christoph also published

    (in <a href="http://bombadil.infradead.org/~hch/vmware/Urteil_2016-07-08.pdf">German</a>

    and <a href="http://bombadil.infradead.org/~hch/vmware/Judgment_2016-07-08.pdf">English)

    the Court's ruling</a> which explains why the materials submitted did not

    satisfy German evidence rules — despite publicly available

    information in Linux's Git repositories. In addition, the Court chose not

    to seek expert testimony.</dd>

  <dt id="statements-of-support">Have others issued statements of support about this action?</dt>

  <dd>Various individuals and groups have publicly stated their support for

    Conservancy's and Hellwig's actions in this matter.  They include:

    <ul>

        <li><a href="http://www.april.org/en/statement-support-software-freedom-conservancy-and-christoph-hellwig-gpl-enforcement-lawsuit">APRIL</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://fsf.org/news/conservancy-and-christoph-hellwig-gpl-enforcement-lawsuit">Free

            Software Foundation</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://fsfe.org/news/2015/news-20150331-01.en.html">Free

            Software Foundation Europe</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://www.gnome.org/news/2015/03/gnome-supports-gpl-compliance-through-vmware-suit-2/">GNOME Foundation</a></li>

        <li><a href="http://opensource.org/node/739">Open Source Initiative</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://samba.org/samba/news/announcements/2015-03-06_vmware_lawsuit.html">The

            Samba Team</a></li>

        <li><a href="http://sourceforge.net/p/swig/news/2015/03/defending-the-gpl/">The

        SWIG Project</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://plus.google.com/104877287288155269055/posts/cHgyreA76yY">Dave Airlie, Linux Developer</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://twitter.com/mjg59/status/573530001758294016">Matthew Garrett, Linux Developer</a></li>

        <li><a href="/news/2015/mar/05/vmware-lawsuit/#glikely">Grant Likely, Linux Kernel Engineer</a></li>

        <li><a href="http://mina86.com/2015/03/11/the-time-has-come-to-stand-up-for-the-gpl/">Michal Nazarewicz, Linux Developer</a></li>

        <li><a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/635624/">Luis R. Rodriguez (aka mcgrof), Linux Developer</a></li>

        <li><a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/635855/">Wolfram Sang, Linux Developer</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://twitter.com/josh_triplett/status/573543072929198083">Josh

        Triplett, Linux Developer</a></li>

        <li><a href="https://lwn.net/Articles/635617/">Rik van Riel, Linux Developer</a></li>

    </ul>

  enforcement, and related issues.</p>

<h2><a href="https://evergreen-ils.org/">Evergreen</a></h2>

<p>The Evergreen Project develops an open source ILS (integrated library

system) used by hundreds of libraries across the world. The software, also

called Evergreen, is used by libraries to provide their public catalog

interface as well as to manage back-of-house operations such as

circulation (checkouts and checkins), acquisition and cataloging of

library materials, and sharing resources among groups of libraries and

consortia on the same Evergreen system.  Evergreen is designed to be

scalable and supports library operations ranging from a small high school

to large state-wide consortia.  Evergreen is released under

the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html">GPLv2</a>-or-later.</p>

<h2><a href="http://www.gevent.org/">Gevent</a></h2>

<p>Gevent is a fast, coroutine-based networking library for Python.

Gevent is used in network applications, including servers that scale

up to tens thousands of connections but without the complexity usually

associated with event-driven architecture.</p>

<p>Gevent provides light-weight &ldquo;green&rdquo; threads with a similar

interface as the standard “threading” and

“multiprocessing” packages.  The library includes a DNS

resolver, a WSGI server, a monkey patching utility to make 3rd party

protocol implementations cooperative and support for SSL sockets.</p>

<h2><a href="https://git-scm.com/">Git</a></h2>

<p>Git is a free and open source distributed version control system

  designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with

  speed and efficiency.</p>

<p>Every Git clone is a full-fledged repository with complete history and

  full revision tracking capabilities, not dependent on network access

  or a central server. Branching and merging are fast and easy to do.</p>

<p>Git is used for version control of files, much like tools such as

  Mercurial, Bazaar, Subversion, CVS, Perforce, and Visual SourceSafe.</p>

<h2><a href="https://www.godotengine.org/">Godot Engine</a></h2>

<p>Godot is an advanced, feature packed, multi-platform 2D and 3D game

engine. It provides a huge set of common tools, so you can just focus on

making your game without reinventing the wheel. Godot is is completely Free

and Open Source under the MIT License.</p>

<p>The GPL Compliance Project for Linux Developers is comprised of

copyright holders in the kernel, Linux, who have contributed to Linux

under its license, the GPLv2. These copyright holders have formally asked

Conservancy to engage in compliance efforts for their copyrights in the

Linux kernel.</p>

<h2><a href="http://brew.sh/">Homebrew</a></h2>

<p>Homebrew is a software package manager for Apple's OS X operating 

system. Homebrew installs the free and open source software that OS X 

users need that Apple didn't install by default.</p>

<h2><a href="https://inkscape.org/">Inkscape</a></h2>

<p>Inkscape is an Open Source vector graphics editor, with capabilities

similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the

open-standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Inkscape's

main goal is to create a powerful and convenient drawing tool fully

compliant with XML, SVG, and CSS standards.</p>

<p>In contrast to raster (bitmap) graphics editors such as Photoshop or

Gimp, Inkscape stores its graphics in a vector format. Vector graphics

is a resolution-independent description of the actual shapes and

objects that you see in the image. This description is then used to

determine how to plot each line and curve at any resolution or zoom

level.</p>

<h2><a href="http://www.k-3d.org">K-3D</a></h2>

<p>K-3D is the free-as-in-freedom 3D modeling, animation, and rendering

system for GNU/Linux, MacOSX, and Windows operating systems. K-3D is based

on a powerful Visualization Pipeline that enables procedural modeling and

a robust plugin architecture, and is designed to scale to the needs of

professional artists.</p>

<h2><a href="https://kallithea-scm.org/">Kallithea</a></h2>

<p>Kallithea is a free software source code management system supporting two

leading version control systems, Mercurial and Git.  Kallithea hosts your

code, manages access control lists and provides an easy web interface to the

version control system of your choice.</p>

<h2><a href="https://kohanaframework.org">Kohana</a></h2>

<p>Kohana is an elegant HMVC PHP5 framework that provides a rich set of

components for building web applications.  It requires very little

configuration, fully supports UTF-8 and I18N, and provides many of the

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<h4><a href="#annual"><span class="donate-box-highlight">Annual supporter</span> via PayPal, ACH, or credit card.</a></h4>

<h4><a href="#monthly"><span class="donate-box-highlight">Monthly supporter</span> via PayPal, ACH, or credit card.</a></h4>

<span class="donate-box-highlight">Other annual supporters methods:</span>

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  <h1><img class="appeal-header" alt="Become a Conservancy Supporter!" src="/img/conservancy-supporter-header.png"/></h1>

<p>Software Freedom Conservancy is an essential organization to free and

open source software. We are the home of over

<a href="/members/current/">30 projects</a> like 

<a href="http://git-scm.org">Git</a>,

<a href="http://inkscape.org">Inkscape</a>, <a href="http://samba.org">Samba</a>,

Developers</a>, <a href="http://pypy.org">PyPy</a> and

<a href="http://sugarlabs.org/">Sugar Labs</a> just to name a few. Conservancy is a "fiscal sponsor plus",

providing everything that our projects need in a nonprofit. We help our

projects defend their trademarks, manage their assets, handle donations,

improve their community management, manage risk and assist them with all

legal needs they may have. While we do receive a portion of the revenue

donated to our projects, we keep that number low enough that it doesn't

even pay for a single staff member. <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">Help us</a> show that you care about

community-focused free software and help us be able to continue our

charitable work. Donating to Conservancy is a great non-technical way to

contribute to the cause.</p>

<img alt="*** The Conservancy T-Shirt that Supporters Receive ***" class="appeal" src="/img/conservancy-t-shirt.jpg"/>

<p>For the first time, we're launching a Supporter

program. For <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">an annual donation of $120</a>, you can

download an official Supporter card and receive a Conservancy t-shirt<a id="return-footnote-shirts-when"></a>. If

this is out of reach, please donate at whatever level you can - it makes a

big difference to us to know that you <a href="#donate-box" class="donate-now">support us</a>, and a little goes a long

way.</p>

<p>In addition to supporting our projects,

<ul>

<li>we share our expertise across communities. We speak at many

conferences, and publish materials to increase understanding about the

organizational, community and legal issues around free and open source

software. We advocate for free and open source software and provide

education around that mission.  We form partnerships across our

communities to work more effectively.  Check out <a 

href="https://copyleft.org/">copyleft.org</a>

or sign up to join the <a 

href="http://sfconservancy.org/news/2014/aug/12/tax-exempt-working-group/">

tax exempt working group</a>.</li>

<li>we seek to solve problems for the public through free and open 

source

software.  We've launched a <a href="http://npoacct.sfconservancy.org/">

nonprofits accounting project</a> to help all

nonprofits (in free software and in other fields) avoid paying millions

of dollars in licensing fees for subpar accounting software.</li>

<li>as part of Conservancy's partnership in the program, we support Karen as

  a co-organizer of the Free and Open Source Software Outreach Program.</li>

<li>we encourage and support our employees to do volunteer work in the

    community.  For example, Bradley and Karen together host an oggcast

    called <cite><a href="http://faif.us">Free as in Freedom</a></cite> which

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