Re: Copyright questions

[dewar at gnat dot com (Robert Dewar)]

<<If a patch fails to meet the "small enough" criterium, what should be done
if there's really only one way to fix a given bug?  Is it sufficient to write
the same patch slightly differently?
>>

If there is only one way to fix something (more generally if there is only
one "efficient" way to program something), then that is not copyright
protectable. This was established in Computer Associates vs Altai, and
althought that is strictly only third circuit law, it is generally
accepted. I don't know what the official FSF policy is here, but that
is the normal interpretation of the copyright law.

Of course the fact that you can write the same patch "slightly differently",
means that there is not strictly only one way to do the fix, but on the
other hand, insignifant differences are not an issue in any case (i.e. you
do not reduce the risk of copyright infringement by making something slightly
different).