Sun open-source license could mean Solaris-Linux barrier

[sreevirus]

i got this from the zdnet india newsletter and i'm not sure if this is the rt place to post this (GNUrag may have objections)
i'm only pasting the key parts here.

SOURCE

Sun Microsystems has quietly begun seeking official open-source status for a new software license that likely will be used to govern its Solaris operating system.

But the license may inhibit cross-pollination between Solaris and Linux--a sacrifice Sun appears willing to make in its effort to attract developers and revitalize its version of Unix.

On Wednesday evening, CNET News.com has learned, Sun submitted a description of its Common Development and Distribution License, or CDDL, to the Open Source Initiative. The nonprofit group reviews licenses and bestows official open-source status on those that meet the Open Source Definition requirements.

The CDDL lets programmers see, change and distribute source code for any programming project it governs. Unlike some open-source licenses, it requires that modifications be shared as open-source software.

Sun's CDDL description addressed the difficulties of intermingling software covered by the CDDL with software covered by the General Public License, or GPL--the license that governs Linux.

"The CDDL is not expected to be compatible with the GPL, since it contains requirements that are not in the GPL," Claire Giordano of Sun's CDDL team said in its submission. "Thus, it is likely that files released under the CDDL will not be able to be combined with files released under the GPL to create a larger program."


In its description, Sun said it tried to find an existing open-source license but "reluctantly" drafted its own when none of the others met its needs. However, Sun didn't start from scratch: The CDDL is a variant of the Mozilla Public License 1.1, the license that governs the Web browser project that helped bring the open-source movement to prominence in 1998.



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[pradeep_chauhan]

I too would like to add some thing to this topic, a few months back i too downoaded solaris 9 for i386 to see if i could load it on my system the download was two cd and once i loaded the system i realised even though the os was free all support tools like say a browser the drivers are all to be paid for so when the sun site says thet "they charge for support" it means that the os which is free is just the basic kernel and a shell all other software that make up a functional os are to be paid for.

[kaysquare]

hey pradeep,

can you explain that to me. I got a solaris 10 DVD from sun. thinking of installing it. but is it that i will not get any software on that?? Only kernel and a window manager??

[GNUrag]

Originally Posted by sreevirus

i'm not sure if this is the rt place to post this (GNUrag may have objections)

I dont have any issues... as long as the topic is remotely related to anything UNIX like

Actually this is an important issue. Profit making entities like IBM and Sun Microsystem, even though they support the linux thing.... but in their heart they actually dont.... I think they are more concerned about getting developers to work for them for free...

again here... they always talk about OpenSource things.... And never about GNU or GPL License.... they know there's a lot of difference between these two paradigms.... And Sun in particular is here just to extend its monopoly and nothing else....