Linux: Whose Kernel Is It?

Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux open source operating system, has proposed changes to the Linux kernel development process which he and other developers hope will make it easier to answer any questions about the origin and ownership of Linux source code. The need to carefully document the development process comes in part from recent legal actions by the SCO Group, which claims that SCO-owned programming code taken from the Unix System V was incorporated illegally into Linux. SCO brought a multibillion dollar suit against IBM last year, alleging that IBM violated its Unix licensing agreement with SCO by transferring copyright protected Unix code to the Linux operating system.

"Some of you may have heard of this crazy company called SCO (aka 'Smoking Crack Organization') who seem to have a hard time believing that open source works better than their five engineers do. They've apparently made a couple of outlandish claims about where our source code comes from, including claiming to own code that was clearly written by me over a decade ago," Tovalds wrote in a message that was posted on Saturday to the Linux Kernel Mailing List.

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