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Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.anu.edu.au!newshost.telstra.net!plaster.csdc.toshiba.com.au!inferno.mpx.com.au!goliath.apana.org.au!news.cs.su.oz.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!nntp.coast.net!howland.reston.ans.net!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in1.uu.net!aesop.synopsys.com!news.synopsys.com!jbuck From: jbuck@synopsys.com (Joe Buck) Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.development.system,comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc Subject: Re: Ideal filesystem Date: 22 Mar 1996 18:05:27 GMT Organization: Synopsys Inc., Mountain View, CA 94043-4033 Lines: 28 Message-ID: <4iuq57$gvl@hermes.synopsys.com> References: <4gejrb$ogj@floyd.sw.oz.au> <4ijs72$cim@josie.abo.fi> <314E0DB7.624ACB10@netcom.com> <kialokv25wt.fsf@laforge.ppe.bb-data.de> NNTP-Posting-Host: deerslayer.synopsys.com Xref: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au comp.os.linux.development.system:19848 comp.unix.bsd.freebsd.misc:15847 In article <314E0DB7.624ACB10@netcom.com> Adam Megacz <kalessin@netcom.com> writes: >: Until Minix/Linux came along, the UNIX way was to charge a lot of money >: for a system and not release source code. mib@bb-data.de (Martin Ibert) writes: >Nonsense. The original UNIX way was to give away the source code for >free. The "charge money and keep the source secret" thing came later; >otherwise BSD UNIX probably wouldn't exist. Actually, the source code was distributed to universities for a small fee, but there was an extremely restrictive license that had to be signed. There was concern in the early days that net.unix-wizards might be illegal since the license forbade those with access to source to discuss the Unix internals with those without access. It is true, though, that in the early days of Unix the users all had the source. This was a problem for the FSF as well, since they had to make sure that their clone programs weren't "contaminated" since authors might have seen the Unix source. See the GNU coding standards (even though Linus says you should burn them) for more on this. -- -- Joe Buck <jbuck@synopsys.com> (not speaking for Synopsys, Inc) Work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed. -- Vaclav Havel