From: j...@kill.spam.omsmotion.com
Subject: Open-Source Solaris
Date: 1999/10/13
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Organization: or the complete lack thereof...
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.security
This isn't really a security related post but I'm sure it's of
interest to the local dwellers...
I just read in Internet Week that Sun will soon be releasing the
source for Solaris. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
What kind of impact would you expect this would have on the further
development of Linux, if any?
Would you expect a mass exodus to Solaris from Linux as a result?
Is Solaris considered secure and robust enough to be any kind of
threat to Linux? Or phrased another way, is there room for another
*NIX kid on this block?
Would you anticipate enough programmers to shift to Solaris to make a
dent in Linux' progress? Or could we expect a lot more cross-platform
development?
Just curious... this one got me thinking and I just *hate* that ;)
Jon
From: ht...@cus.cam.ac.uk (Dr H. T. Leung)
Subject: Re: Open-Source Solaris
Date: 1999/10/14
Message-ID: <7u42i3$jgg$1@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk>#1/1
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To: j...@kill.spam.omsmotion.com
Organization: University of Cambridge, England
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.security
Originator: ht...@ursa.cus.cam.ac.uk
Most probably it will be the other way round - linux people learning from the
Solaris source code to improve the linux code. Not copying, but learning from.
The real issue is, I believe, SUN still owns the Solaris derived source code
(like the Apple public license) and people will be reluntant to work on
debugging/improving some code
that they might lose access to in the future. GNU public license guarantees that
any derived code remains open and accessible in the future, but I doubt
Sun (or apple, for that matter) is giving that privilege away. In any case, I
haven't read the fine print of either license yet.
In article <38050ce1.27693...@news.rockynet.com>, j...@kill.spam.omsmotion.com writes:
|>
|> This isn't really a security related post but I'm sure it's of
|> interest to the local dwellers...
|>
|> I just read in Internet Week that Sun will soon be releasing the
|> source for Solaris. Anyone have any thoughts on that?
|>
|> What kind of impact would you expect this would have on the further
|> development of Linux, if any?
|> Would you expect a mass exodus to Solaris from Linux as a result?
|> Is Solaris considered secure and robust enough to be any kind of
|> threat to Linux? Or phrased another way, is there room for another
|> *NIX kid on this block?
|> Would you anticipate enough programmers to shift to Solaris to make a
|> dent in Linux' progress? Or could we expect a lot more cross-platform
|> development?
|>
|> Just curious... this one got me thinking and I just *hate* that ;)
|>
|> Jon
--
--------------------------------------------------
"What you don't care cannot hurt you." Chap. 7a, AMS-NS
From: Benny Amorsen <bamor...@netvision.dk>
Subject: Re: Open-Source Solaris
Date: 1999/10/14
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Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.security
>>>>> "HTL" == H T Leung <ht...@cus.cam.ac.uk> writes:
HTL> Most probably it will be the other way round - linux people
HTL> learning from the Solaris source code to improve the linux code.
HTL> Not copying, but learning from.
If you have read Solaris source code and you later work on Linux, you
will find it hard to protect yourself from copyright infringement
lawsuits from Sun. The same holds for the source for all other
products.
The FSF has had to deal with this, and their take on it is here:
<URL http://www.fsf.org/prep/standards_3.html>
Personally I would advise everyone to NOT look at the Solaris source
code.
Benny
From: v...@weyl.math.psu.edu (Alexander Viro)
Subject: Re: Open-Source Solaris
Date: 1999/10/14
Message-ID: <7u4nr9$s8s@weyl.math.psu.edu>#1/1
X-Deja-AN: 536664805
References: <38050ce1.27693421@news.rockynet.com> <7u42i3$jgg$1@pegasus.csx.cam.ac.uk> <m3iu4a2hf6.fsf@sscnet.com>
Organization: -ENOENT
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.security
In article <m3iu4a2hf6....@sscnet.com>,
Benny Amorsen <bamor...@netvision.dk> wrote:
>The FSF has had to deal with this, and their take on it is here:
>
><URL http://www.fsf.org/prep/standards_3.html>
Now, that's _true_ case of cure being worse than disease. Basically they
advice to go for featuritis and deliberately write sucking code. Wonderful.
NIH at extreme.
>Personally I would advise everyone to NOT look at the Solaris source
>code.
Everyone who can't keep track on where he is taking code from, that is.
The problem is not new - many BSD folks had worked on SunOS at different
points (that is, aside of the fact that founders of Sun were BSD hackers).
And they were able to continue work on BSD. Not to mention the fact that
same BSD folks had to be careful with GNU code too - mixing GPLed and
BSD-licensed code leads to the whole result being under GPL. Somehow they
had survived...
--
First off, I'd suggest printing out a copy of the GNU coding standards,
and NOT read it. Burn them, it's a great symbolic gesture.
Linus in /usr/src/linux/Documentation/CodingStyle
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