*BSD News Article 76296


Return to BSD News archive

Path: euryale.cc.adfa.oz.au!newshost.carno.net.au!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!news.mira.net.au!news.vbc.net!alpha.sky.net!winternet.com!mr.net!news.sgi.com!enews.sgi.com!news.mathworks.com!fu-berlin.de!cs.tu-berlin.de!unlisys!news.bb-data.de!news
From: mib@ppe.bb-data.de
Newsgroups: comp.unix.bsd.386bsd.misc
Subject: Re: BSD as commercial platform?
Date: 15 Aug 1996 11:24:44 +0200
Organization: BB-DATA GmbH, Berlin, Germany
Lines: 34
Sender: mib@LOSIRA
Distribution: ?
Message-ID: <u4tm5yp7n.fsf@ppe.bb-data.de>
References: <4uma7i$4v4@earth.alpha.net>
NNTP-Posting-Host: 10.11.4.39
X-Newsreader: Gnus v5.3/Emacs 19.32

jrw@earth.execpc.com (Jim Wayner) writes:

> It
> seems as though the OS is free to use in a commercial product except
> for the GNU components.

You can use the whole of the OS in a commercial product. Just supply
your customer with the source to the GNU components, and the COPYING file.

> Is this a sane thing to do?

I should think so, yes.

> Is there a 
> compiler I can use without running up against GNU type restrictions?

Yes, gcc.

> (The was I read the license, I can't charge for any code I develop
> with gcc.)

That is not so. You can charge for code compiled with gcc. You don't
even have to provide source for your code. If you use the GNU
library, you would have to provide either a dynamically linked binary,
or the object files (so that a user can use a newer version of the
library with your code). But with *BSD, that problem shouldn't arise
because the run-time library isn't GPL'ed.

> Is there a way to compensate the authors in the (unlikely)
> event we make money on the project?

Just send them some. Where is the problem?

E&EO, of course. I am not a lawyer.