SELinux: Message from Secure Computing

Source: selinux@tycho.nsa.gov - Posted by Benjamin D. Thomas

Secure Computing has reviewed the concerns expressed by the open source community about SELinux and certain Secure Computing patents. We understand that considerable effort has been invested in SELinux, with the expectation that SELinux would be available for everyone's use. . . . Secure Computing has reviewed the concerns expressed by the open source community about SELinux and certain Secure Computing patents. We understand that considerable effort has been invested in SELinux, with the expectation that SELinux would be available for everyone's use. On the other hand, it is the policy of Secure Computing to retain and enforce its rights in all of its patents and other intellectual property.

In this case, we have decided to make an exception to that policy, and to support the reasonable expectations of the open source community. For this reason, we are extending an assurance to the open source community that Secure Computing will not use the patents in question to limit the availability of SELinux. Our assurance is subject to certain limitations that we believe are consistent with the spirit of open source. We know that we have caused confusion addressing this issue in the past, so we want to be as clear as possible in resolving the issue. We have developed a Statement of Assurance to provide that clarity. The Statement of Assurance summarizes the scope of our assurance to the community, as well as the limits of that assurance. The Statement of Assurance may be found at

http://www.securecomputing.com/pdf/Statement_of_Assurance.pdf

We hope you will agree that the Statement of Assurance is both reasonable and clear.

We thank you for your patience while we worked to resolve this issue and hope you will feel that your patience has been rewarded.

Regards,
Secure Computing Corporation

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