Re: L4-hurd discuss

[Neil Santos]

On 13:02 26/06/05, Daniel Martin wrote:

> > I *do* have a problem with BSD-licensed software; or, rather, I have a
> > problem with the BSD-style licenses (and all other
> > free-but-not-copyleft licenses).  That is, I have a problem with using
> > a free-but-not-copyleft license for anything I create, but I *don't*
> > have a problem with using other's softwares.
> > 
> The BSD license is both free and GPL compatible, so surely that makes
> the BSD kernels a better choice for monolithic kernels that the
> OpenSolaris one?

*sigh*

Read the whole thread again.  The whole OpenSolaris thing had a lot of
strings attached.  And I did say (say quoted paragraph) that I don't
want to use free-but-not-copyleft licenses for *my* projects, but
would use---and contribute, if I could and I had the
inclination---like-licensed softwares.
 
> I see no problem with relicensing BSD works to the GNU GPL. Surely if
> the BSD authors are prepared to allow their work to be molested in to
> non-free software then they can't complain when their work is reborn
> copyleft. The choice was made when they chose the BSD license I don't

There *is* no problem doing that, but only so long as you hold the
copyrights to each and every part of the software (somebody please
correct me if I'm wrong).

> The GNU/kFreeBSD project is the GNU operating system running on top of
> FreeBSD's kernel, which is licensed under the BSD license. I can't
> imagine them going off and supporting a non-free fork of the kernel. If
> the FreeBSD project suddenly decided to make it non-free then I expect
> they would fork the kernel rather than support the new non-free kernel.

And I can't imagine the FSF allowing GNU projects to be released under
the BSD.  Please check your information: I'm willing to bet that the
kernel's BSD-licensed, but the majority are (L)GPL-licensed.
 
> > Like (I think) I've previously said, I'll only share if you'd share,
> > but I won't let anyone else share.
> 
> You lost me! :-)

Free-but-not-copyleft licenses allow me to share with everyone,
including those who don't want to share.  On the other hand, copyleft
licenses allow me to share code only with those whom I know would be
willing to share in return.
-- 
address@hidden        If we're good enough to choose our governors, doesn't
Freedom: Too high a price      that mean we're good enough to govern ourselves?

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