Re: [Octal-dev] distro issues, etc.

[Neil Nelson]

Dave O'Toole wrote:

> I anticipated this sort of thing from the start, as it was clear to me
> that Octal wouldn't go anywhere without a diverse community of machine
> developers and musicians. My idea of setting up a Sourceforge repository
> (I am in the process of doing this right now) would sidestep the entire
> problem, which is good because I never wished to make developers go
> through the hoops/paperwork. I'm sure people would rather just log in
> through ftp or cvs and upload their machines, putting them in a central
> repository.

I read through the GNU agreements and can see your point.  When I bought
the RedHat (a stock exchange listed company) installation I paid for it
and it contained, what appears to be, quite a bit of GNU software such
as the c compiler I am using.  This worry about not making money and that
someone might use freely distributed code in proprietary software is
impractical and apparently a bit inconsistent.  If someone can make a
fortune from my software and still give the required credit as to where
he obtained the code, that is sufficient for academic work and sufficient
for me.  I would be glad the code was put to some good use.

One of the reasons I provide this work is so that those who use it will
have made an agreement that I will be recognized for the work.  I do not
require that anyone other than the current legal system provide the
customary enforcement of that agreement.  But you must realize that GNU's
claims of being for free software and against copyrights but at the same
time being willing to enforce their own version of, say, copyright law is
a bit of a stretch and fundamentally inconsistent.

Clearly, if you will not accept my software in your distribution, I am
throwing software at a brick wall.  Software becomes essentially free
when there are recognized free locations from where it can be obtained.
If someone tried to sell software that could be easily obtained for free,
no one would buy it; that is the way to make software free.

Apparently, we need to have the same arrangement with GNU as RedHat
does so that we can give proper credit, make a central, consolidated
distribution, and then make money or not as we please.

Neil Nelson