Re: Debian/GNU Freebsd
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On Fri, 19 Feb 1999 14:35:43 -0500 (EST), Phillip R. Jaenke wrote:
>> NO! Is nobody noticing that FreeBSD is BSD license, not GPL? That
>> commercial people can "adopt" it for binary form, and exploit our hard work?
>> That this opens up a SERIOUS vulnerability for the free software community?
>At the risk of starting up what may quickly become the largest
>debate/flamewar to ever be recorded in archives...
Well, if you hadn't stuck your foot in your mouth it might have been.
>John, why don't you look at the GPL sometime. While it isn't mentioned, it
>ISN'T PROTECTED. In case you haven't noticed, Caldera, RedHat, and Pacific
>Hi-Tech are doing EXACTLY THE SAME THING WITH LINUX!
No, they are not. Note the wualifier he put up there. FOR BINARY FORM.
I think he meant "in binary form."
>The GPL, by your logic, is a 'SERIOUS vulnerability for the free software
>community.' There are NO protections against companies like Caldera and so
>on. They distribute the source, but at a cost, and the profits go strictly
>to them. From the GPL:
They distribute the source.
> For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
>gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients all the rights that
>you have. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the
>source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their
>rights.
This says when they distribute the program (binary) binary, they must
also distribute the source, make it available, or point to where the sources
are.
Have you read the BSD lice, Phillip? Do you know the only requirement
(IIRC) to using BSD source in a proprietary project? You list the authors
of that code and give credit. You do *NOT* have to give out the source,
just give credit.
So, you tell me how Caldera packaging up GPL'd programs and selling
them, complete with source, is as dangerous as, say, Microsoft lifting BSD's
TCP/IP stack for NT 5.0, giving credit to the authors, selling it in binary
form ONLY and that's it?
When you can answer that question intelligently, we'll talk. Until
then, you don't quite grasp the concept behind the GPL. It is not free beer.
It is the free exchange of knowledge.
- --
Steve C. Lamb | I'm your priest, I'm your shrink, I'm your
ICQ: 5107343 | main connection to the switchboard of souls.
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