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From: hmccurdy@ix.netcom.com (Hugh McCurdy)
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.misc,comp.unix.bsd.bsdi.misc
Subject: Re: Linux vs whatever
Date: 7 Feb 1997 17:10:58 GMT
Organization: Netcom
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References: <32DFFEAB.7704@usa.net> <5ciraf$gs@cynic.portal.ca>
<32EE0B70.1657@ml.com> <5claa2$jq1@cynic.portal.ca>
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In article <5dask0$13q0@usenet1y.prodigy.net>,
davidsen@tmr.com (bill davidsen) writes:
> In article <5claa2$jq1@cynic.portal.ca>,
> Curt Sampson <cjs@cynic.portal.ca> wrote:
>
(snip)
>| > Anyone is free to reimplement it as a non-GPLed piece
>| > of code, should they be perverse enough to want to try.
>|
>| As a matter of fact, that has been done. In NetBSD we now have a
>| non-GPL'd zlib, and we're writing front ends for it so we can get
>| rid of gzip and gunzip and the like.
>
> That really sounds dumb. GPL doesn't say you have to give away the
> operating system if you include gzip, why would you write another
> program to do the same thing?
>|
It also is impossible. Let's say you write or port a GPL program to
MS-DOS. Certainly, you can't be expected to give away MS-DOS.
Either I have a serious misunderstanding of law or someone else does.
--
Hugh McCurdy