Benjamin Scott wrote:
>
> I think it is a big deal, because, as Theo says, this impacts a lot of
> companies who have been using OpenBSD to build their own solutions. This
> suddenly puts the licensing status of their work in doubt. One of the major
> advantages (depending on your POV) of OpenBSD is the right to do whatever you
> want with it.
One thing that comes to mind here is companies like Nokia (and several
others) that have firewall appliance boxes that are running OpenBSD
and ipf. There value-add is a management interface and hardware. The
base system upgrade path is now non-exist for these appliances. Now,
if OpenBSD finds a new system to replace ipf, then these companies
will need to re-evaluate their position and their product. If these
companies start looking elsewhere for a base system, then Linux would
be the obvious choice. I think that this issue is a big deal in that
it opens up an avenue for Linux to be used in this area.
Since the Linux kernel is GPL'd, there isn't really any chance of the
firewalling code being taken out. The user-space programs might be in
danger of relicensing, but most of those are GPL'd as well. This is
where the GPL, IMHO, is better than the BSD license. It specifically
requires that the source be open to modification and redistribution.
OpenBSD's rules are specific, but the license isn't.
C-Ya,
Kenny
--
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Kenneth E. Lussier
Geek by nature, Linux by choice
PGP KeyID 0xD71DF198
Public key available @ http://pgp.mit.edu
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