Hi Tyson,

Hi, out of interest, is it possible to easily use Genode alongside existing L4 components (e.g. L4Linux, Darbat or custom servers)? Or would I have to rewrite the components to fit into the Genode architecture?

of course, the native Pistachio kernel API can be used from Genode components. However, most of existing Pistachio software relies on further user-land infrastructure, which would need to be ported to Genode first. The reuse of existing Pistachio components should be considered case by case. I am pretty confident that important components such as L4Linux or Afterburner can be adapted to Genode with a moderate effort. In contrast, if you are going to reuse components that rely on a sophisticated execution environment (e.g., relying on IDL-based communication), matters get more difficult.

Also, I'm trying to figure out what the best way to solve a potential license conflict will be (other than don't use the new code/implement the feature at all, hopefully), given that Genode is released under the GPLv2, and some components I'm planning to keep separate in their own servers/libraries to build an accompanying Personality on top of Genode will be released under the Eclipse Public License by the Symbian Foundation soon.

I am afraid, this conflict cannot be easily resolved as the EPL is not compatible with the GPL (nor with the FreeBSD license and the like). The FAQ on the EPL License is pretty clear about that:

http://www.eclipse.org/legal/eplfaq.php#USEINANOTHER

On Google, I stumbled across a project that uses EPL but with an additional clause about combining the work with GPL software.

http://imaginary-project.net/epl-license/

If Symbian Foundation has the intent to make their software inter- operable with non-EPL software, they will certainly add a clause like that. Without such a clause, I see no way to resolve this conflict.

Norman