Re: /RANT- plan9 downloads/ Re: [Xen-devel] plan 9 status

David Hopwood
Fri, 19 Nov 2004 02:21:16 -0000

Wesley Parish wrote:
> <RANT MODE=ON>
> In the mean time, might I suggest to the Plan9 organizers that if they are
in
> any way sincere about having their code getting a good airing, they might
> consider lightening up on their stupid licensing requirements?  By
including
> such ridiculous requirements in their license, they restrict downloads to
one
> machine, and that poor machine doesn''t have the capacity of the
likes of
> sourceforge''s international system of download mirrors.

I don''t see any provisions in version 1.02 of the license that would
require this.
<http://plan9.bell-labs.com/plan9dist/license.html>

Most of the arguments RMS put forward against the license
<http://gnu.intissite.com/philosophy/plan-nine.html> appear not to apply
to version 1.02. The only non-frivolous complaint I can see that still
applies to the current version is the indemnification clause
(4. COMMERCIAL DISTRIBUTION). And that appears to be mainly sloppy
wording (the first paragraph seems to be stronger than the apparent
intent described in the second "For example," paragraph.)

--
David Hopwood <david.nospam.hopwood@blueyonder.co.uk>