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VMware is hit by lawsuit contending GPL violation

Controversial Code

Article from ADMIN 27/2015

By Ulrich Bantle

A Linux kernel contributor has filed a lawsuit against VMware, claiming the company is using Linux kernel code in a proprietary product.

For nearly 10 years, VMware has been suspected of using GPL-licensed code with its ESX system, a hypervisor created by VMware to deploy and server virtual machines. Negotiations with VMware to correct non-compliance issues started originally with the non-profit Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) because of a report of another GPL violation that occurred in 2011 [1]. This report concerned the BusyBox project, which is included in VMware's ESXi products. In the course of these negotiations, SFC discovered – according to its own account – that there might be another infringement concerning the copyrights of Linux kernel developer Christoph Hellwig.

One of the 20 most prolific contributors to the Linux kernel, Hellwig has penned 279,653 lines of codes in kernel version 3.19. Hellwig also has expertise in code review, which he has exercised by inspecting many code additions from third parties. Hellwig said that after the SFC had informed him that his copyrights might be violated in newer VMware versions, he began to prepare this case.

Background

As a maintainer of Linux SCSI storage, Hellwig in 2006 [2] let VMware employee Zachary Amsden know rather bluntly on the kernel mailing list that he was accusing VMware of violating Linux code copyrights with the ESX server (Figure 1). The parties have spent several years attempting to find an amicable agreement; however, according to information from the SFC, attempts to settle the matter amicably failed. Even efforts by Hellwig could not lead to an agreement.

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