Tom Marchant writes:
>AFAIK, most UNIX libraries do not have licenses
>that allow them to be copied.

I mentioned software licenses. On every platform, for every application,
one always reviews and complies with software licenses. There's nothing
unusual or different in that. Want to run a particular library on Microsoft
Windows or on Android? Same thing: check its license.

Fortunately, in fact, the vast majority of libraries available with/for
**IX operating systems have licenses that permit copying. GPL, LGPL, MIT,
BSD, Apache, Eclipse... there are many licenses, but all of those (and many
more) permit copying without charge.

John McKown writes:
>This may sound nasty, but you seem to be saying "If you want to use ASCII
>and X11, then simply implement X11 yourself."

If you don't have a particular library that meets your requirements, one
option (if consistent with software licensing) is to locate the library you
want and bring it to the platform you are targeting in the form you
require. That wasn't the only option I listed.

I would add a third option. You have the option in some cases to implement
a "shim" library. That is, if the library you do have is inadequate in some
particular way(s), it's frequently possible to create another, usually
simple library that sits in between and intercepts select calls for your
desired functional extension or modification. Java, for example, promotes
that approach through subclassing, but the basic principle applies to many
different programming languages and environments. As with Option 1,
generally you can share any Option 3 work you do with others.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Timothy Sipples
IT Architect Executive, Industry Solutions, IBM z Systems, AP/GCG/MEA
E-Mail: [email protected]
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