On Tue, 7 Mar 2000, Bill Studenmund wrote:

> JD: make sure there's not a file somewhere else, say in that directory,
> which expresses a copyright & license on those files. If there's not, then
> you're free and clear.

  Actually, most Linux sources do not include a license, only a copyright,
though a few do not even have a copyright.  However, at least in the
United States it is no longer required that you place a copyright notice
to obtain a copyright on your work.  Therefore, unless all authors listed
give notice that it is in the public domain, it is under the GPL (since it
is included in Linux, the authors clearly indend to allow it to be
distributed under the GPL).  Some authors may be willing to also release
it separately under a different license, but I would not assume that you
could use any part of the Linux source except under the GPL.

In the top directory in the file README under "What is Linux" there is the
paragraph:
  It is distributed under the GNU General Public License - see the
  accompanying COPYING file for more details. 

In COPYING:
 [...]
 Also note that the GPL below is copyrighted by the Free Software
 Foundation, but the instance of code that it refers to (the Linux
 kernel) is copyrighted by me and others who actually wrote it.

  In the file kernel/module.c there is the text:
This source is covered by the GNU GPL, the same as all kernel sources.

Matthew Orgass
darkstar@pgh.net