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Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd Path: sserve!manuel!munnari.oz.au!uunet!cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!qt.cs.utexas.edu!yale.edu!cmcl2!panix!tls From: tls@panix.com (Thor Lancelot Simon) Subject: Re: Restrictions on free UNIX / 386BSD (Re: selling 386BSD) Message-ID: <1992Aug17.225116.20533@panix.com> Date: Mon, 17 Aug 1992 22:51:16 GMT References: <PHR.92Aug15214245@soda.berkeley.edu> <YSDIBS4@taronga.com> <9208162341.30@rmkhome.UUCP> Organization: PANIX Public Access Unix & Internet, NYC Lines: 31 In article <9208162341.30@rmkhome.UUCP> rmk@rmkhome.UUCP (Rick Kelly) writes: >In article <YSDIBS4@taronga.com> peter@taronga.com (Peter da Silva) writes: >>In article <PHR.92Aug15214245@soda.berkeley.edu> phr@soda.berkeley.edu (Paul Rubin) writes: >>> If 386BSD was copylefted, it would be Linux. It's the absence of copyleft >>> that leads to the possibility of more than a bunch of random hackers >>> benefiting from it. >> >>>Please clarify this. How is anyone else prevented from benefitting >>>from it? Say, for example, the same people who now benefit from GCC? >> >>OK, I missed one aspect of this in my previous article. There is a large >>category of people who now benefit from GCC who would not be able to >>benefit from a GPL-covered 386BSD. Next, Sun (In Solaris 2), and I believe >>MIPS ship GCC with their products, in some cases as the primary compilers. >>This sort of distribution is not practical for an operating system. > > >And from reading comp.unix.solaris, I get the idea that a number of development >shops will buy compilers for Solaris 2.0 because of the GNU Copyleft. I'm sorry, that's just stupid. Is this another reincarnation of the anti-FSF propaganda line about "if you compile your code with GCC, it's covered by copyleft!!!!"? That suggestion is patently false. The degree to which a number of commercial software houses are frightened of the FSF is neatly displayed by the persistence of this absurd rumor. -- Thor Lancelot Simon tls@panix.COM "Oh, you have wounded me! I have very few prejudices, actually. The biggest problem is that I am intolerant of fools. That is why I have such a low tolerance level for Libertarians." -- Jim McMaster