The impact of Patrick mchardy incident on the open source community

Background of the event

Netfilter It's a community driven collaboration FOSS project , By the first Paul Rusty Russell On 1998 Founded in 2000 , With the development of the project , He was in 1999 Established in Netfilter Core team . The project is Linux2.4.x And later versions of the kernel series provide network packet filtering software , Usually with Iptables Related to , As Linux A module in the kernel . mobile phone , Intelligent Watch , Routers and other terminals and network equipment enterprises will use Linux To develop , Like millet 、OPPO、 Huawei 、 Cisco 、 Ericsson may use Netfilter.

Patrick McHardy Yes Netifilter The project code base has a continuous and important contribution , On 2004 year 1 Month was invited to join its core team . In the next few years ,McHardy Lead team development , And in 2007 year 7 Month was selected as the new member of the core team Chair. But because of McHardy Not signed  ThePrinciples of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement , On 2016 year 6 Month suspended , And delete its contribution account .

The Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement By FSF ( Free SoftwareFoundation ) And SFC ( Software Freedom Conservancy ) stay 2015 Released community oriented GPL The principle of power , This principle is to make the sole right of copyright license first serve the goal of protecting users' freedom , Advocate legal action as a last resort , Never put economic interests above the protection of user freedom . from McHardy If he does not sign the statement of the principle of power, it can be guessed that he may be more willing to take the opposite path to the principle .

stay McHardy After being suspended , He was in 18 Fail to comply within months GPL For contacting many enterprises in Germany to claim compensation , The amount reached 200 Thousands of euros . This amount only counts the compensation amount disclosed in the German judgment and settlement agreement , I believe the total amount of compensation is far more than that . Objective analysis ： These behaviors have certain positive significance , They increase the enterprises' awareness of open source License follow , Even the importance of the entire open source culture . But for the purpose of pursuing economic interests , Put forward excessive economic compensation claims , It has brought more harm to the open source community . For businesses , If using open source has the potential of huge economic compensation “ risk ”, Will weaken their use of open source , Even the enthusiasm to contribute to open source . At the same time, for those who hold to defend “ Freedom for all computer users ” perhaps “ Everyone can share the freedom and opportunity of open source software ” Developers of faith , Thinking that their intellectual contributions may be pursued by other developers and users for personal economic benefits , It will also weaken their enthusiasm to participate in open source contributions .

therefore , The above behavior led to Netfilter Public opposition to the project . stay 2016 year 7 month ,SFC Of KarenSandler and Bradley Kuhn Published an article with McHardy Blog with theme article , The article revealed SFC encourage McHardy Draft and sign compliance with them The Principles ofCommunity-Oriented GPL Enforcement Statement of , But I didn't receive his response , At the same time McHardy He refused to support these authoritarian principles but did not publicly prove that he had sued GPL The legitimacy of authoritarian behavior . be based on Netfilter Project for Linux What the kernel does , This event may cause more and more enterprises to stop Linux .

period Netfilter Project to refuse to comply  The Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement  The principle of is blocked for McHardy Account number , And try to contact McHardy Discuss his activities , But there was no response . The project team decided to 2020 Years of McHardy Institute proceedings . stay 2021 The litigation period of years is related to McHardy Contact recovery , In the end to 2022 year 1 In September, it was announced that the two sides had reached a legally binding Settlement agreement .

The settlement agreement clearly does not allow individual copyright rights . It stipulates that , Anything to do with Netfilter The decision-making of relevant version authoritarian activities should be based on the majority vote of the core team members . The reconciliation covers the past and new authoritarian activities , For the past McHardy The power only case , Including negotiation 、 Those who have reached an agreement but fail to implement the compensation and those who have reached an agreement but refuse to implement the compensation will be invalidated .

But there is no clear provision for the majority vote of core team members in the settlement agreement , But a relatively vague concept , For example, as a software licensee, if he finds himself under the copyright （ One side of the collaborative project ） Sue for copyright infringement , May object that the prosecution did not reach a majority vote .

From this event, we see some positive cultures ：Netfilter Our core team demonstrated the core concept of open source -- free , Of course, it also reflects the original intention of open source , Open source cannot be used as a means of personal profit .

Through a legally effective settlement , It also formed a good precedent for subsequent similar disputes .

●  For consumers of open source projects ：

You can use open source projects with more confidence , But we want to emphasize that reassurance does not mean compliance , Enterprises should use open source projects on the basis of compliance .

●  For producers of open source projects （ contributor ）：

Don't worry about personal contributions being regarded as illegal profits of others , More actively participate in open source contributions .

●  For open source projects （ Community ） In itself ：

before Mcharddy What you do will make the project organization dare not accept other people with malicious ideas to contribute , But this case happened , It has set a good example for the open source community . meanwhile , For this concern, I think CLA Would be a good solution , If the open source project is implemented CLA signed , And in CLA It clearly standardizes the decision-making methods on the implementation of copyright and other activities , This concern can be effectively addressed .

meanwhile , from GPL Of license v3 The release of the version also shows , The provisions of its termination clause will be violated GPL The downstream users of the protocol take the time to correct , This is also GPL v3 Version and GPL v2 A point where the terms of the version change .GPL Class license The original intention is to let more people participate in the co construction of open source , Instead of wasting everyone's energy in legal proceedings , Law is only the last weapon , Use in case of necessity .

Last , Thank you for having so many people with lofty ideals to let us better embrace open source through case by case 、 Participate in open source 、 Contribute to open source , Promote the development of human science and Technology .