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Date:      Thu, 29 Jan 1998 20:34:20 -0600 (CST)
From:      "Matthew D. Fuller" <fullermd@futuresouth.com>
To:        Jamie Howard <howardjp@dragon.ham.muohio.edu>
Cc:        Mike Smith <mike@smith.net.au>, dmaddox@scsn.net, Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>, hackers@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: The BSD License 
Message-ID:  <Pine.BSF.3.96.980129203238.4784D-100000@shell.futuresouth.com>
In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.95.980129205556.8426A-100000@dragon.ham.muohio.edu>

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On Thu, 29 Jan 1998, Jamie Howard wrote:

> On Fri, 30 Jan 1998, Mike Smith wrote:
> 
> >  - If source code is not available and freely redistributable, it is 
> >    impossible for it to be included in the FreeBSD codebase.  (This is
> >    really a no-brainer).
> 
> Hello, I've been lurking around this mailing list for a spell now and
> recently considered this question myself.  I am confused by the above
> statement.  Was Sun Microsystems legally bound to (a) make the source to
> SunOS available and (b) make the source code available for free?  What
> about others like DEC and Ultrix or OSF/1 or NeXT and NeXTStep?
That's easy.
That's because FreeBSD requires that all source in the base OS is freely
distributable, so anything we add in has to be under such a license.
SunOS et al have no such restriction; they license their source out for
mega $, and aren't really under any compulsion to do so, other than the
fact that most people demand to at least be able to BUY the source.

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|       FreeBSD; the way computers were meant to be       |
* "The only reason I'm burning my candle at both ends, is *
| that I haven't figured out how to light the middle yet."|
*    fullermd@futuresouth.com      :-}  MAtthew Fuller    *
|      http://keystone.westminster.edu/~fullermd          |
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