Re: OpenMotif in Woody
On Wed, Dec 06, 2000 at 06:40:59PM +0200, Anton Zinoviev wrote:
> Why do you think the clause "only free OS's" is not DFSG compliant?
> There are many free OS's, not only Debian.
>
> The GPL contains the following clause:
>
> > However, as a
> > special exception, the source code distributed need not include
> > anything that is normally distributed (in either source or binary
> > form) with the major components (compiler, kernel, and so on) of the
> > operating system on which the executable runs, unless that component
> > itself accompanies the executable.
>
> A free copyleft license without such "special exception" will be free,
> or not? GPL says "free libraries only", "free OS's only" seams to me
> similar.
Big difference in intent. And a big difference in the impact on the user.
This clause *allows* GPL'd stuff to be used on proprietary OSes. The
OpenMotif license *restricts* the freedom to use it on a proprietary
OS. I use VMS daily and appreciate the ability to use GNU tools in
my work. The OpenMotif license goes not give me the same freedom
as the GPL and hence is in a very practical sense, non-free. I am
forced to use the proprietary, prohibitively expensive "layered product"
that Compaq offers instead of OpenMotif because of this license.
(Disclaimer: I haven't checked to see if OpenMotif actually runs on VMS
and don't have any Motif-based projects on the go at present, but it
sounds cool and I might want something like this down the road.)
Ben
--
nSLUG http://www.nslug.ns.ca synrg@sanctuary.nslug.ns.ca
Debian http://www.debian.org synrg@debian.org
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