3 ms·

Unless it's true that they lost it, I really see no reason why HPE doesn't just release the official IRIX source code. It cannot be worth much at this point. M

Unless it's true that they lost it, I really see no reason why HPE doesn't just release the official IRIX source code. It cannot be worth much at this point. Maybe there's 3rd party code which SGI/HPE licensed? That's apparently why we can't have Operas Presto.

throw0101a 8mo ago
> Maybe there's 3rd party code which SGI/HPE licensed? IIRC, this was one of the complication of open sourcing Solaris back in the day.
- linolevan 8mo ago
  Yep, I recall one of the big components being libc i18n
fredoralive 8mo ago
An obvious source for 3rd party code is that it’s a real UNIX System V derivative, so the AT&T code would need to be cleared.
pm215 8mo ago
Even if there isn't any 3rd party code, the whole process of going through the codebase to confirm there really isn't any 3rd party code, and generally getting the legal department to sign off on it, is a lot of work in itself. My impression is that this kind of "historic source" release typically only happens if somebody sufficiently senior in the company cares enough to actively push it through. The default is that nobody does care that much, and it doesn't happen. "Do nothing" has essentially zero downside for a big company that happens to have something of niche interest like this in its vaults.
- miki123211 8mo ago
  third-party code is one thing, political correctness is another. What was acceptable in 90s brogrammer culture may not be considered acceptable by PR obsessed corporate types now. To put this more charitably, the only reason to release something like this is to get some good PR, but if not carefully controlled, such a release could create more bad PR than good PR.
  - actionfromafar 8mo ago
    How?
    - mrweasel 8mo ago
      I don't recall which product it was, it may have been Microsoft, that needed to sanitizes their code before releasing it. There where a lot of not so nice comments about other companies and oh so much swearing. Not really the type of language a company would have their name attached to.
      - actionfromafar 8mo ago
        Hm, it could be done with llm today. Or remove all comments

throw0101a 8mo ago

> Maybe there's 3rd party code which SGI/HPE licensed? IIRC, this was one of the complication of open sourcing Solaris back in the day.

linolevan 8mo ago
Yep, I recall one of the big components being libc i18n

fredoralive 8mo ago

An obvious source for 3rd party code is that it’s a real UNIX System V derivative, so the AT&T code would need to be cleared.

pm215 8mo ago

Even if there isn't any 3rd party code, the whole process of going through the codebase to confirm there really isn't any 3rd party code, and generally getting the legal department to sign off on it, is a lot of work in itself. My impression is that this kind of "historic source" release typically only happens if somebody sufficiently senior in the company cares enough to actively push it through. The default is that nobody does care that much, and it doesn't happen. "Do nothing" has essentially zero downside for a big company that happens to have something of niche interest like this in its vaults.

miki123211 8mo ago
third-party code is one thing, political correctness is another. What was acceptable in 90s brogrammer culture may not be considered acceptable by PR obsessed corporate types now. To put this more charitably, the only reason to release something like this is to get some good PR, but if not carefully controlled, such a release could create more bad PR than good PR.
- actionfromafar 8mo ago
  How?
  - mrweasel 8mo ago
    I don't recall which product it was, it may have been Microsoft, that needed to sanitizes their code before releasing it. There where a lot of not so nice comments about other companies and oh so much swearing. Not really the type of language a company would have their name attached to.
    - actionfromafar 8mo ago
      Hm, it could be done with llm today. Or remove all comments