Re: object/load module formats

meissner@osf.org writes:
>Also the work (phone tag, etc. not actual coding) involved to actually
>be able to use ELF legally without a SVR4 license was a nightmare.


I'm particularly interested in this point, and if Mike would elaborate
a bit, I'd appreciate it.


As far as I'm concerned, ELF can be thought of as a sort of binary language
(for expressing object files).


ELF has been publically documented (by USL, in their publically available
books, e.g. UNIX System V Release 4 Programmer's Guide: ANSI C and
Programming Support Tools; ISBN 0-13-933706-7) so USL certainly cannot
make any credible claim that it is covered under trade secret laws (because
they have made no serious attempt to keep it a secret).


Nor is it likely that ELF is covered by any patents. (Hey! Object file
formats are not exactly grand new inventions... the're all just variations
on an old old theme.)


That leaves only the possibility that ELF might be covered under some sort
of copyright. But as I understand it, some court cases have already made
it clear that ``languages'' cannot themselves be copyrighted. (Wasn't
there some decision a few years back about DBASE IV macros or something
like that?)


So why would anyone (other than a lawyer who bills by the hour) think that
there are any legal constraints against using ELF?


If there's something that I don't understand here, I'd be glad to be en-
lightened.


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Ron Guilmette, Sunnyvale, CA ---------- RG Consulting -------------------
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