I am an attorney.

Yes, GRSecurity is violating the licensing terms by adding an additional term; which is explicitly forbidden in the license agreement under-which they are given permission to modify, distribute, and create derivative works.

GRSecurity does not have a default right to modify,the linux kernel, nor to create or distribute derivative works based on it; this permission is only granted via license by the rights-holder; the writing states that if its terms are violated that permission is automatically revoked.

Here GRSecurity violated one of the terms in said writing: Adding an additional term (no redistribution - or else) to the agreement between them and further distributees.

Thus they no-longer have license to modify or distribute the linux kernel, nor do they have license to create or distribute wholly derivative non-standalone works of the linux kernel.

Their permission falls back to standard copyright without some separate agreement with the rights-holder: all rights reserved.

Yes, they are violating the copyright to Linux at this current time.

On 2017-06-16 00:29, Boris Lukashev wrote:

Your frustration is evident, sorry to see you're upset. However, spender and team have no obligation to open their source, and for years now have not done so in their private patches which have more functionality than the public ones. Nobody complained or sued then, why start now?

There is no law firm representing Linux as a whole, and no money to file exploratory suits into uncharted waters allocated to any fund. I'm about to spend thousands of my own dollars to pay for some of the porting work upstream... Money far better spent than harassing people to give up their hard work for free on dubious legal ground. Just think of them as having gone out of business... For all intents and purposes they're gone.

If you're not a committer to master, whom they have actually infringed upon (provably), you have no legal standing at all. If you have code in the kernel, I'm sure lwn would love to post a story about your lawsuit once you find an attorney willing to litigate and the money to pay for an extended plaintiffs position.

Please don't spam the lists, it has no meaningful effect, makes people angry, and slows the flow of legitimate communication aimed at improving kernsec. There are better forums for this, and nobody will read anything anyone else writes and "hear the call to action" to go sue a man for his life's work... But they do let you vent.

Boris Lukashev Systems Architect Semper Victus