Busted For Dodging Linux License, Samsung Makes Nice With Free Code

Robert McMillan | Wired | August 20, 2013

Samsung has released software that could help a brand new class of storage devices work with Linux-based smartphones and computers.

Made late last week, the code release is the result of a mini-saga involving Samsung and the open source software community. It might never have happened — at least not officially — if not for an anonymous hacker who calls herself “rxrz.”

Samsung’s code was written to work with Samsung’s Android smartphones and tablets. It lets them read files that use a new Microsoft filesystem called ExFAT, but it also contained a fatal flaw. It used snippets of code that had been written for Linux, and Linux’s GPL (Gnu General Public License) forces anyone who uses the Linux code to share their own changes with everyone else.