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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!munnari.OZ.AU!news.ecn.uoknor.edu!feed1.news.erols.com!arclight.uoregon.edu!super.zippo.com!zdc!szdc!szdc-e!news From: "John S. Dyson" <dyson@freebsd.org> Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.os.linux.networking,comp.os.linux.setup,comp.unix.bsd.misc,comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy,comp.os.os2.advocacy Subject: Re: Linux vs whatever Date: Tue, 28 Jan 1997 20:02:08 -0500 Organization: John S. Dyson's home machine Lines: 36 Message-ID: <32EEA190.794BDF32@freebsd.org> References: <32DFFEAB.7704@usa.net> <32ED1866.34F02393@indiana.edu> <32ED4897.193@indy.celebration.net> <877mkxslwx.fsf@localhost.xs4all.nl> <5cm1o4$5fg@web.nmti.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Mailer: Mozilla 3.01 (X11; I; FreeBSD 3.0-CURRENT i386) Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.misc:154989 comp.os.linux.networking:66554 comp.os.linux.setup:94486 comp.unix.bsd.misc:2110 comp.os.ms-windows.nt.advocacy:51312 comp.os.os2.advocacy:264235 Peter da Silva wrote: > > In article <877mkxslwx.fsf@localhost.xs4all.nl>, > Peter Mutsaers <plm@xs4all.nl> wrote: > > The boycott of GPL means a slowdown of development which seems far > > more damaging to commercial use. > > What boycott of GPL? > > There's lots of GPL stuff shipped with FreeBSD. Just not *in* the standard > kernels. > > > Also in commercial settings GPL'd code is used quite a lot. I know of > > many commercial packages (such as several expensive real-time kernels, > > OSI stack software, etc. etc.) that use gcc, gdb etc. > > Why look, so does FreeBSD. > Yes, not speaking "officially" as a member of the FreeBSD team, but informally, I'd like to think that we can keep a pure, GPL-free runtime capability. In development, it is hard to stay away from GPL tools. Most of us though are not in the business of creating development tools, but are in the business of creating solutions to problems or products that are redistributed. Luckily, you can build a FreeBSD system that doesn't have GPLed code in it, and then "carefully" add the GPLed components as needed. As long as you haven't modified the GPLed components, much of the encumbering nature of GPL is mitigated. The key is to NOT invest much work into GPLed code (unless you ahead of time plan to give away your invention.) Once you have made the GPL decision (either as a developer or in creating derived works), it is hard to change your mind. JOhn