On Wed, 11 Apr 2007, Toby Thain wrote: > I hope this isn't turning into a License flame war. But why do Linux > contributors not deserve the right to retain their choice of license as > equally as Sun, or any other copyright holder, does?
Read what I wrote again, more slowly. Individually, Linux contributors have every right to retain their choice of license for software they produce. But given the viral nature of the GPL, every piece of software that goes into the Linux kernel must be GPLed, hence if the Linux community wants to change the license the Linux kernel uses, ALL contributors must agree to the change. If 90% of the contributors want to change their code to use the Toby Thain License (TTL) but the remaining 10% want to stick with the GPL, then that 90% must either live without the code owned by the 10% or drop the idea of changing license. The GPL, which the Linux community has embraced, forces them into this position. What I or anyone else thinks of the GPL is moot: it is the license you yourselves have chosen that limits your choices, not us. Which is kind of ironic, because the all-GPL or nothing nature of the GPL is routinely touted as an advantage by the more vociferous GPL advocates! > The anti-GPL kneejerk just witnessed on this list is astonishing. The BSD > license, for instance, is fundamentally undesirable to many GPL licensors > (myself included). And power to you. As for anti-GPL knee jerks; I know two wrongs don't make a right, but how do you think we feel when Sun and the CDDL are slagged off on Slashdot et al? > It seems Sun is internally divided on the GPL. Your CEO and Java division seem > quite happy with it. As others have said, some licenses are better than others for certain projects; there is no "One True License". > drive adoption and satisfaction. Solaris may be the only credible competitor > Linux has left, which will keep it honest. :) I prefer to think of it the other way round. :-) -- Rich Teer, SCSA, SCNA, SCSECA, OGB member CEO, My Online Home Inventory Voice: +1 (250) 979-1638 URLs: http://www.rite-group.com/rich http://www.myonlinehomeinventory.com _______________________________________________ zfs-discuss mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://mail.opensolaris.org/mailman/listinfo/zfs-discuss
