Linux Foundation's Role, Combining Linux ZFS, Mint News

Today in Linux news Richard Stallman posted a Free Software Foundation statement on ZFS in a GPL2 Linux and Software Freedom Conservancy is pleased with his conclusions. Elsewhere, Eben Moglen discussed the Linux Foundation's role in the Linux community. Sam Varghese today said that Ubuntu may be everywhere, but Canonical is still operating in the red and Clement Lefebvre introduced some of the changes coming in Mint 18. The Fedora 24 supplemental wallpaper selection is in the voting phase and a new Pisi video has Megatotoro scratching his head.

Richard Stallman issued a statement today outlining the Free Software Foundation's position on allowing a ZFS module into the Linux kernel tree. He began by stating its purpose and the second line said the reason was due to "the violation of combining Linux with ZFS." That sums the document up right there, it's a violation according to Stallman because the GPL requires any work included to be released under the GPL. Oracle's ZFS CDDLv1 license doesn't permit that. Stallman went into greater detail in his article covering various nuances.  Bradley Kuhn and Karen Sandler blogged their approval today saying, "The statement confirms various points that we made previously. We believe the FSF's statement definitively settles this issue. We're glad the FSF has clarified the confusion."

Eben Moglen from Software Freedom Law Center today posted the purpose of the Linux Foundation and why that helps the community. Moglen said that the LF isn't a community charity, it's a trade organization formed and paid dues "in order to achieve a common business purpose, promoting the success of Linux." The LF doesn't offer legal assistance, perform copyright enforcement, or speak for developers but it does secure "respect for free software copyrights." It's "an entity helping to coordinate alliance among those very businesses with whom we as communities are most engaged for mutual benefit." It would be a mistake to try to change the LF's role according to Moglen. He then added that the Linux Foundation will be as favorable to copyright licenses as its members want it to be.

Clem Lefebvre said in this month's Mint news that, among other thing, security is still on their minds. He announced an upcoming partnership with Sucuri, a website security firm. saying they are about to become their third largest sponsor. In discussing some new features for Mint 18, he said two new settings were added to the Update Manager to allow users to see and select kernel upgrades as well as showing more information about kernels. The kernel selection screen has been revamped to include more information and links to changelogs and bug reports. They've also added a new configuration screen instead of the update levels (1-5) they now how 3 choices: Always update everything, Optimize stability and security, and Don't break my computer! He then teased some new goodies for Cinnamon and MATE and a new theme that is in the works for version 18. Speaking of Mint security, Dedoimedo yesterday posted a look at Mint security 28 days after the breech.

In other news:

* 'Ubuntu is everywhere' but Canonical is still in the red, Nexenta Deal

* What's up with the Pisi Linux video?

* Fedora 24 Wallpapers: Vote Now!

* Isolating processes with Qubes OS 3.1

* Blue-chip stocks of the day: Red Hat, Inc.