Maybe Apple and Microsoft can write a GPL FUSE-like wrapper for btrfs. On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 10:15, Chris Mason <chris.mason@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Excerpts from ivo welch's message of 2011-08-14 20:34:14 -0400: >> curiosity question---could btrfs be licensed in multiple ways to allow >> Apple and other vendors to adopt it? as end users, having one good >> file system that works everywhere as a main root system would be >> heaven... > > One of the ways you can tell people like the project is when they wish > they could use it everywhere. Thanks for this question ;) > > There are a few problems with relicensing btrfs under something other > than the GPL. > > Large parts of the btrfs code that deal with the VFS were copied from > ext2 and ext3. These are GPL and would have to be reimplemented. The > code that deals with the page cache was also lifted and adapted from > different parts of the kernel, and it is surprising how far the roots of > the page cache spread into the rest of the code. > > More importantly, btrfs has major contributions from many companies and > individuals. I intentionally set things up so there wouldn't be a > single place you could go and say 'xyz' owns the btrfs code, we'll > ask them for permission. > > Just like most of the kernel, we have maintainers and contributors, > but not a single owner. This is a big part of why others feel > comfortable contributing to btrfs, and to be honest it's one of my > favorite parts of the project. > > None of this prevents others from using btrfs outside of linux, but if > they do it'll be under the GPL. > > -chris > -- > To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-btrfs" in > the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html > -- To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-btrfs" in the body of a message to majordomo@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html
