On Tue, Sep 04, 2001 at 04:38:22PM -0700, J.C. Roberts wrote:
> It's amazing how DJB can be smart enough to write some really great
> software but not be able to realize how his license destroys it's
> usability.

Does it? Why? Because it cant be packaged with OpenBSD or any other distro in any way they see fit?
Geez, how goddamn difficult is it to install qmail:
tar zxvf qmail-1.03.tar.gz
cd qmail-1.03
make
make setup check

Wow, that's REALLY difficult now, isn't it? If that is too difficult for someone to do I doubt they should be using a Unix-based OS in the first place, or at least learn more before installing and operating a mail system.

> If all of his software were under the BSD license and these
> programs actually prove to be superior to alternatives they would be
> used a lot more because people can use them as they see fit.

People CAN use them as they see fit. Use is not the same as distribute. You can patch and modify all you want and even distribute your patches. What you CANT do is distribute patched or modified versions.

> If /package is such a great idea, people would use it exactly as he
> intends it to be used but since people don't have a choice to use it
> as they see fit, they probably won't bother using it at all.

If they could use it as the saw fit the well-organized structure and portability would be lost and so also the benefit from it.

> In spite of the intelligence and experience it takes to write code as
> well as DJB does, all of his name calling, condescending remarks and
> begging to be included in the ports tree fail to hide the simple fact
> that he lacks both the stones and brains to put his software under a
> BSD license and let his ideas stand on their technical merits alone.

It's amazing how people think that BSD and/or GNU are the be-all-end-all licencing schemes.
Just because it doesnt use any of those licenses doesnt mean the software isnt any good.

> If he really believes his software and ideas are so great, he should
> have the guts to put them under the BSD license and let the public
> decide whether or not his way is the best way doing things.

Why? Because you say so? What has the license got to do with deciding wether or not the programs are good? You have the source code already.

This is an utterly pointless thread anyway, that has been beaten to death all too many times already.

Lars

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