[jira] [Created] (LEGAL-316) Use of struct definitions and #defines from LGPL source

["Todd Lipcon (JIRA)" <ji...@apache.org>]

Todd Lipcon created LEGAL-316:
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             Summary: Use of struct definitions and #defines from LGPL source
                 Key: LEGAL-316
                 URL: https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/LEGAL-316
             Project: Legal Discuss
          Issue Type: Question
            Reporter: Todd Lipcon


In Kudu, we are looking to make use of an XFS-specific ioctl() which requires a specific struct xfs_flock64 to be passed as its argument. The struct is not available in commonly-distributed headers but is part of the public API of XFS, and defined in the Linux source tree in an [LGPL-licensed header|https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/fe7a719b30dfdb4d55680461954b99b257ebe671/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_fs.h#L126]. We also need the definition of XFS_IOC_UNRESVSP64 defined [here|https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/fe7a719b30dfdb4d55680461954b99b257ebe671/fs/xfs/libxfs/xfs_fs.h#L509].

Since the file isn't commonly installed by default, we would like to copy-paste the struct definition and define into our own code. According to Richard Stallman on http://lkml.iu.edu/hypermail/linux/kernel/0301.1/0362.html:
{quote}
 Our view is that just using structure 
definitions, typedefs, enumeration constants, macros with simple 
bodies, etc., is NOT enough to make a derivative work
{quote}

Additionally, Google has been extracting struct definitions from Linux and redistributing them as part of their BSD-licensed bionic library for the past 6 years on Android. So, we believe there is precedent and this should be fine for us. Just looking for confirmation from ASF Legal.



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