"Sean E. Millichamp" <sean_at_compu-aid.com> writes:
> While there is often much BSD-ish code in various Linux distributions I
> thought that the GPL prohibited inclusion of, or linking to, any code that
> is non-GPL.  Since the Linux kernel is GPL would that not prohibit the
> linking/inclusion of BSD code into the kernel tree?  I think that the only
> way that it could happen legally is by a loadable module, am I way off on
> this?

Not true.  GPLed code can be linked against non GPLed code, if that
code is "free enough" in a sense that is clearly defined in the GPL
itself.  Since I'm not lawyer, I won't attemp a detailed explanation
of the topic, but just show you this excerpt of the Linux kernel code
(from file linux-2.0.35/drivers/net/slhc.c, an official part of the
Linux kernel v. 2.0.35 source code):

 /*
  * Routines to compress and uncompress tcp packets (for transmission
  * over low speed serial lines).
  *
  * Copyright (c) 1989 Regents of the University of California.
  * All rights reserved.
  *
  * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms are permitted
  * provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are
  * duplicated in all such forms and that any documentation,
  * advertising materials, and other materials related to such
  * distribution and use acknowledge that the software was developed
  * by the University of California, Berkeley.  The name of the
  * University may not be used to endorse or promote products derived
  * from this software without specific prior written permission.
  * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED ``AS IS'' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR
  * IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED
  * WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
  *
  *      Van Jacobson (van_at_helios.ee.lbl.gov), Dec 31, 1989:
  *      - Initial distribution.

As far as I understand, this is a standard Berkeley style license, and
this code can be statically linked to build a Linux kernel, without
restriction.

Best regards,

M. S.
------------
Martin A. Soto J.                           Profesor
Departamento de Ingenieria de Sistemas y Computacion
Universidad de los Andes      masoto_at_uniandes.edu.co