Sun's use of GPL and/or debian source

[Daniel Jacobowitz]

On Wed, Aug 15, 2001 at 12:22:45AM -0700, Alan DuBoff wrote:
> Daniel Jacobowitz wrote:
> 
> > There's only one question that matters, really.  Do they restrict use
> > or redistribution, or in any way explicitly violate the license?
> 
> I don't know for sure. They don't restrict it, but some of the GNU tools
> replace the function of SYSVR4 counterparts with added function. As an
> example, SYSVR4 tar doesn't support gzip compression. You can still do it with
> SYSVR4 tar by piping it through gzip, but I prefer to use gtar on Solaris.
> There are some grey areas that arise, and this seems to be one of them.

No, functionality provided isn't a gray area at all.  Licenses are very
particular about that.  Use is not restricted in any way unless -Sun-
tries to restrict it.  Which they can't.

> > You'll notice, if you look hard enough, that Hard Hat Linux does much
> > the same thing.  The differences, legally, are negligible - despite the
> > fact that HHL is free and Solaris is not.  We're obviously careful to
> > stay within the license, and if Sun has any sense or any lawyers, they
> > are too.
> 
> Yes, but the difference being that HHL is GPL as well, Solaris is not. When I

That's a difference, but it isn't relevant.  The GPL'd programs on that
Solaris Companion CD you're looking at are not linked in to proprietary
larger projects, merely against system libraries.  Compilation is not
restricted by free licenses.  Of course, if the CD is sold for
excessive cost, there could be some issues - but that is a very
flexible issue, and depends also what else is on the CD.

> Certainly, the idea of GPL is for someone to take it and improve it, and Sun
> did that to get the tools working on Solaris and provides that changes, it
> just seems odd to me...

Odd, maybe, but nothing wrong with it.  That makes (a small part of)
Solaris probably a Debian derivative, though - that's just cute! :)

-- 
Daniel Jacobowitz                           Carnegie Mellon University
MontaVista Software                         Debian GNU/Linux Developer