libgen: basename and dirname [PATCH]

[Brian Dessent]

Shaun Jackman wrote:

> I noticed the copyright, but since Cygwin and newlib are so
> intertwined, I assumed their licenses were compatible. I guess I
> assumed wrong!

I think the issue is that newlib is a hodgepodge of various BSD-like and
GPL-ish licenses with a variety of copyright holders, whereas the Cygwin
code is strictly GPL/commercial dual licensed, with all code owned by
redhat.  Though I could easily be wrong on the reasoning here.

> I thought header files for standard functions were essentially
> derivative works, since the function declarations are usually verbatim
> from the standard they draw from. How then is it possible to license
> the derivative work (libgen.h here, for example, under the Cygwin
> license) without giving attribution to the original work or mentioning
> its license?

As far as I know, an ABI in general is not copywriteable but any
specific implementation of it (i.e. a particular header file) is.

Brian