Re: The idea of an own L4

[Jonathan S. Shapiro]

On Sun, 2005-10-09 at 15:17 +0200, ness wrote:
> _the license problem_
> Pistachio is distributed under a 2 clause bsd license that is compatible 
> with the GPL, AFAIK. This means we can simply license new files under 
> the (L)GPL. This is not the nicest, but OK, IMHO.

I would like to understand this issue. I *do* understand that the Hurd
has social as well as technical goals, and that this motivates
particular choices of license for Hurd. If you *do* decide to take over
a kernel, you will certainly want to use the license that you think is
appropriate for new code.

However:

The BSD license is open enough to get the job done, and it would be
terribly stupid to try to alter it for the microkernel given that you
are not starting from scratch. The only thing you will accomplish is to
paint yourself into a corner of incompatible licensing restrictions.
Also, you will slow yourself down.

As long as the license of the microkernel does not restrict the license
of the Hurd components, I recommend that you focus on things that will
let you actually deliver the Hurd.

Surely Hurd has been delayed long enough? In order to have social impact
with Hurd, Hurd has to ship. Soon.

shap