Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2002 23:33:46 +0200 From: Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@freebsd.org> To: AndynAnne <AndynAnne@btinternet.com> Cc: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: The meaning of 'free' in FreeBSD (was: confussed) Message-ID: <20020224213346.GH22935@hades.hell.gr> In-Reply-To: <00c101c1bd4f$d91b5e00$0100a8c0@g4x9a2> References: <00c101c1bd4f$d91b5e00$0100a8c0@g4x9a2>
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On 2002-02-24 16:25, AndynAnne wrote:
> I see that the freebsd is free, but if so why is quite a high price on at
> the resellers?
The meaning of 'free' is two-fold when one refers to FreeBSD. The first
meaning of the word is related to the cost of obtaining the system, and the
second one refers to the rights you have to the source code of the system.
1. The cost of FreeBSD
- ----------------------
There are various places that you can buy FreeBSD cdroms from. These are
commercial entities of their own. They have to survive out there, in the
world. This is why they charge for their products.
Note though that you do not have to pay for FreeBSD. If you choose to buy
one of the cdrom distributions, some of the money you give eventually makes
it back to the developers who brought FreeBSD to you. But nobody forces
you to go buy one of the cdrom distributions.
Based on the right to copy FreeBSD freely (which is explained below), you
can copy the FreeBSD distribution from the cdrom one of your friends has
bought. Everyone who already has a copy of FreeBSD is allowed to give away
a copy of his cdrom to you.
I've given away about 10 cdroms of 4.4-RELEASE this month, since I have
a copy of the 4.4-RELEASE iso image in my disk. I can burn a copy and give
it to anyone who asks for it, in less than 15 minutes. This is not
illegal. I am allowed to do this by the license of the FreeBSD system.
For me, the cost of FreeBSD 4.4-RELEASE was zero, nothing, nil. I went to
my University department's computing facilities, and used their big, fat
network connection to download the iso images right from a Greek mirror of
FreeBSD. For those who want to get FreeBSD from me, the cost is nothing
too. They can go buy an empty cdrom disk, and drop by my house whenever
they feel like it, and ask for a copy.
So, yes, FreeBSD is free. You can find a copy without paying anything,
except for the medium itself (in my case, an empty cdrom disk).
2. The rights you have on the source
- ------------------------------------
The FreeBSD source is distributed under the terms of the FreeBSD license.
This license gives you, the owner of the source, the right to use it
`freely'. If you read the license, you will discover what `freely' means
here. You can read, copy, modify, give away, the source. You can build
products based on the source, and you can sell those. What you can't say
though, is that you wrote the thing. The only thing that the FreeBSD
license requires is that you do not ask the FreeBSD developers to pay for
damage done by FreeBSD, because you choose on your own free will to use it,
and that you don't claim to have done the thousands of man-hours of work
thay they have put in making FreeBSD what it is.
Other than that, you can use FreeBSD in any way you see fit. This is the
second meaning of 'free', when you're referring to the FreeBSD system.
Giorgos Keramidas FreeBSD Documentation Project
keramida@{freebsd.org,ceid.upatras.gr} http://www.FreeBSD.org/docproj/
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