*BSD News Article 3557


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From: lm@slovax.Eng.Sun.COM (Larry McVoy)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd
Subject: Re: AT&T vs. BSDI --> 4.3BSD-NET2 distribution requires AT&T license!!!
Message-ID: <l8hhhkINN695@appserv.Eng.Sun.COM>
Date: 12 Aug 92 08:05:08 GMT
References: <166cciINNr2o@agate.berkeley.edu>
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.  Mt. View, Ca.
Lines: 29
NNTP-Posting-Host: slovax

bostic@toe.CS.Berkeley.EDU (Keith Bostic) writes:
: In article <1992Aug8.160024.3222@sceard.Sceard.COM> mrm@sceard.COM (M.R.Murphy) writes:
: >How I love it when the copyright blather takes more space in a source
: >distribution than the code itself. See USL /bin/true and CSRG
: >/usr/include/strings.h. Couldn't it just be included once or read into the
: >record, or assumed, or inserted with a TECO macro built into the kernel? It is
: >wasteful of disk space and offensive to sensitive people.
: 
: It can't be included once and fulfill its purpose, the lawyers we've
: consulted are consistent on that one.
: 
: To argue that it should only be put in "files that are sufficiently
: important", while logically appealing, is not reasonable.  To reword
: your request, you want me to make a decision on a file-by-file basis
: for a system with thousands of files, and then revisit the decision
: every time a file is modified.  I don't think I get paid enough for that.

I don't mind the copyrights as long as they don't get in my face.  How about
one of these:

	1) #include <sys/copyright.h>
	2) Put the @%$! copyright at the *bottom* of the file instead
	   of the top.  Surely the lawyers can't tell the difference,
	   right?

I'd be happy to provide a perl script that does #2.  For the whole 
BSD source base.
---
Larry McVoy			(415) 336-7627			 lm@sun.com