Date: Sat, 04 Jan 2003 12:55:39 -0800 From: Terry Lambert <tlambert2@mindspring.com> To: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> Cc: Cliff Sarginson <cls@raggedclown.net>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: FreeBSD's use of GCC (Was: Bystander shot by a spam filter.) Message-ID: <3E174A4B.7D8D3B18@mindspring.com> References: <200212312041.gBVKfr183480@hokkshideh2.jetcafe.org> <3E120659.3D60EB30@mindspring.com> <20030101140530.GA11468@raggedclown.net> <4.3.2.7.2.20030104112345.02a48b70@localhost>
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Brett Glass wrote: > OpenBSD pretty much avoids the use of GPLed code except in the > toolchain. I'd like to see them take an even tougher stance, > and eject the GPL from their code base altogether. But while > they removed ipfilter over a much smaller licensing issue, > they have not done the same with GPLed code. Why? One can only > speculate that it's because GCC is now so dominant that > other compilers just aren't obtainable... and also because so > much of the third party software for OpenBSD is dependent > upon GCC as well. A vicious cycle that needs breaking. I believe it's because a tools dependency is an indirect dependency. By trying to treat it as if it were a direct dependency, you sabatoge my argument against direct dependencies on GCC-specific syntax in source files. Please don't do that. > It's simple: It's what I call the "Yosemite Sam Principle." > > Remember the classic cartoon in which Yosemite Sam attempts to get > Bugs Bunny to blow himself up by playing a booby-trapped piano? > > Sam challenges Bugs to play the "pie-anner," which is rigged to > explode when a particular key is pressed. Bugs plays the tune from > the sheet music, but keeps hitting a wrong note and doesn't set > off the explosive. Finally, the frustrated Sam leaps in front of > Bugs, yelling, "No, you stupid rabbit! Like this!" and plays the > tune correctly. > > The explosive goes off. > > This is one of the secrets of open source: One of the ways to get > people to do something right for you is to do it wrong yourself > and let other people's egos intervene. They'll soon do it better > than you could (though, in the case of GCC, not necessarily as > well as it could be done). Do you mind if I steal and republish this (i.e. "can I quote you?")? I will give you credit for originating it, of course. -- Terry To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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