The current developers of the Netfilter kernel subsystem sued to reach an agreement with Patrick McHardy, the former leader of the Netfilter project, which for many years discredited free software and the community with attacks on GPLv2 violators, similar to blackmail and undertaken for the purpose of obtaining personal enrichment. In 2016, McHardy was removed from the core Netfilter development team for ethical violations, but continued to profit from the fact that his code is in the Linux kernel.
McHardy drove the GPLv2 requirements to the point of absurdity and for minor violations by companies using the Linux kernel in their products, requested large sums, not giving time to eliminate the violation and presenting ridiculous conditions. For example, he required smartphone manufacturers to send paper printouts of code for automatically delivered OTA firmware updates, or interpreted the expression "equivalent access to code" so that servers for code should provide download speeds not lower than servers for downloading binary assemblies.
The main lever of pressure in such proceedings was the immediate revocation of the license from the violator, provided for in GPLv2, which allowed non-compliance with GPLv2 to be treated as a breach of contract, for which monetary compensation could be obtained from the court. To counter this aggression, which undermined the reputation of Linux, some kernel developers and companies whose code is used in the kernel took the initiative to adapt the GPLv3 rules for the kernel regarding license revocation. These rules make it possible to eliminate identified problems with the publication of the code within 30 days from the date of receipt of the notification, if violations were detected for the first time. In this case, the rights to the GPL license are restored and the license is not completely revoked (the contract remains intact).
It was not possible to peacefully resolve the conflict with McHardy, and he stopped communicating after being expelled from the main Netfilter team. In 2020, members of the Netfilter Core Team went to court and in 2021 achieved an agreement with McHardy that is defined as legally binding and regulates any law enforcement actions related to the code of the netfilter/iptables project included in the core or distributed as separate applications and libraries.
Under the agreement, all decisions related to responding to GPL infringement and enforcing GPL license requirements in Netfilter's code must be made collectively. The decision will be approved only if the majority of active members of the Core Team vote for it. The agreement not only covers new violations, but can also be applied to past proceedings. In doing so, the Netfilter project does not abdicate the need to enforce the GPL, but will adhere to community-oriented principles and allow time for the violation to be corrected.
Source: opennet.ru