Stephen Harpster writes:
> > Stack against that the issues we will have to endure if we dual 
> > license - the potential for one license to be ripped off and the 
> > source forked *incompatibly* (the incompatibility is the important 
> > bit), the inability to move bug fixes between versions, the confusion 
> > that dual-licensing will bring (just what *is* an "assembly exception" 
> > anyway?).
> Very unlikely that a source fork will happen.  Let's face it. Most of 
> the people who know and understand all the intricacies of OpenSolaris 
> source code work at Sun.  Who's going to fork?  How will they maintain 
> that fork?  Constantly chase opensolaris.org?  And what happens if their 
> new incompatible changes don't work with the changes they pull from 
> opensolaris.org?  It's not practical and I can't imagine it happening.

I can.

If the source becomes available under GPL, then an obvious fix to the
community's well-justified[1] frustration with our lack of openness,
speed, and flexibility in bug tracking, development, and integration
becomes possible.

All that someone has to do is set up a CVS server with Bugzilla
somewhere on the 'net, allow a simple registration process, and
prohibit the use of anything but GPL.  Heck, putting it on sourceforge
or the like would probably do the trick.

This then becomes a _rival_ project to Open Solaris.  They can take
new bits from opensolaris.org if they want, or they can just not care
to do so.  They instead build an open community.

The result is a fracture over control issues that are akin to those
afflicting Zebra versus Quagga and some other open source projects.
If I had to place money on one of those horses to win, it almost
certainly wouldn't be the one saddled with a complex multi-license
scheme, fragmentary bug tracking, and developmental problems.

I'm pretty sure I've seen this movie before.


[1] Yes, I know we've made great progress.  That's not the point.

-- 
James Carlson, Solaris Networking              <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sun Microsystems / 1 Network Drive         71.232W   Vox +1 781 442 2084
MS UBUR02-212 / Burlington MA 01803-2757   42.496N   Fax +1 781 442 1677
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