Re: [OT] How much open is OpenSolaris?
On Fri, Mar 30, 2007 at 08:14:34AM -0300, Bruno Buys wrote:
> From time to time I grab a diferent OS to install and try my hands at
> it. This time was OpenSolaris. The thing is, at some point in the
> install, OpenSolaris throws a license at my face that doesn't seem open
> at all. I can run the software, but I can't redistribute, copy, etc. I
> am no law expert, but that license doesn't seem really open or free.
> As far as I could tell, at least grub and (a javified version of) gnome
> are free, and OpenSolaris is using it. Maybe it uses other free
> software. So, doesn't that license conflicts with the gpl?
> Its not to flame Sun, I know the company has contributed a lot with the
> community, and many folks respects them. Just trying to get things clearer.
>
From what I remember, OpenSolaris is distributed under the CDDL
license[0]. The license is actually written by Sun, and according to
the Wikipedia article "The [FSF] considers it a free license
incompatible with the GNU General Public License (GPL)". I guess this
means that although it is free, it isn't free under GPL standards
(What other licenses are, anyway? I believe BSD it, but I don't know
of any others).
The controversy section on the Wikipedia page may be the most
informative to you, considering where you asked this question[1].
[0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Development_and_Distribution_License
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Development_and_Distribution_License#Controversy
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