3 ms·

You make it sound like FreeBSD's code got all closed off and hidden away when it got wrapped into OS X. FreeBSD's stuff is still available openly and can be stu

by delinka 14y ago

You make it sound like FreeBSD's code got all closed off and hidden away when it got wrapped into OS X. FreeBSD's stuff is still available openly and can be studied. No, you cannot see how Apple interfaces with it, but that's the nature of proprietary. Code licensed under BSD has the chance to affect more of the "world" because it'll end up in more systems because there's no requirement to keep those derivative systems open. Those interested in keeping their own work proprietary (but using the BSD-licensed code) can do so. If the code were GPL, it just sits there while Proprietary Corp. re-implements that library (perhaps in a poorer, less-secure manner). The GPL code did not contribute to humanity as much as the BSD code did.

cjbprime 14y ago
> You make it sound like FreeBSD's code got all closed off and hidden away when it got wrapped into OS X. FreeBSD's stuff is still available openly and can be studied. I think I was pretty precise in this criticism. Yes, FreeBSD's code is still there, but it hasn't been contributed back to by Apple, and (partly) as a result of that it's been growing less relevant over time; to the point where I would no longer describe FreeBSD as having a healthy community. In contrast, Linux is flourishing.
- csixty4 14y ago
  > Yes, FreeBSD's code is still there, but it hasn't been contributed back to by Apple Huh? "FreeBSD developer here. Apple contributes back lots. We're very happy that the BSD license has allowed Apple to use our code." http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2084333 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2084333 "at the last FreeBSD devsummit I attended, the people Apple sent were begging us to take more and the holdup was FreeBSD developers (myself included) not being sure that we really liked the solutions OS X had developed." http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3560947 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3560947 "This keeps being brought up, the whole apple not contributing back to FreeBSD, but I would urge you to please look through FreeBSD's CVS history to find all of the places that Apple HAS indeed contributed back (I've made several comments with links to such sources on HN before)." http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2083877 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2083877
- mindcrime 14y ago
  and (partly) as a result of that it's been growing less relevant over time; to the point where I would no longer describe FreeBSD as having a healthy community. I'll freely admit that I'm no expert on the BSD world, since I'm a Linux user myself. But I'd question whether or not there's any real research that demonstrates that the BSD community is less "healthy" (depending on how you define that) than the Linux community, because of the license. Heck, I'm not even 100% sure I believe that the BSD community is less healthy, but even if that were shown conclusively, how do we know it's the license and not some other factor(s)? I mean, the BSD community has had different challenges and issues, and a different culture, going back at least to the days of the AT&T (USL) lawsuit[1]. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USL_v._BSDi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USL_v._BSDi

by delinka 14y ago

cjbprime 14y ago

> You make it sound like FreeBSD's code got all closed off and hidden away when it got wrapped into OS X. FreeBSD's stuff is still available openly and can be studied. I think I was pretty precise in this criticism. Yes, FreeBSD's code is still there, but it hasn't been contributed back to by Apple, and (partly) as a result of that it's been growing less relevant over time; to the point where I would no longer describe FreeBSD as having a healthy community. In contrast, Linux is flourishing.

csixty4 14y ago
> Yes, FreeBSD's code is still there, but it hasn't been contributed back to by Apple Huh? "FreeBSD developer here. Apple contributes back lots. We're very happy that the BSD license has allowed Apple to use our code." http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2084333 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2084333 "at the last FreeBSD devsummit I attended, the people Apple sent were begging us to take more and the holdup was FreeBSD developers (myself included) not being sure that we really liked the solutions OS X had developed." http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3560947 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3560947 "This keeps being brought up, the whole apple not contributing back to FreeBSD, but I would urge you to please look through FreeBSD's CVS history to find all of the places that Apple HAS indeed contributed back (I've made several comments with links to such sources on HN before)." http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2083877 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2083877
mindcrime 14y ago
and (partly) as a result of that it's been growing less relevant over time; to the point where I would no longer describe FreeBSD as having a healthy community. I'll freely admit that I'm no expert on the BSD world, since I'm a Linux user myself. But I'd question whether or not there's any real research that demonstrates that the BSD community is less "healthy" (depending on how you define that) than the Linux community, because of the license. Heck, I'm not even 100% sure I believe that the BSD community is less healthy, but even if that were shown conclusively, how do we know it's the license and not some other factor(s)? I mean, the BSD community has had different challenges and issues, and a different culture, going back at least to the days of the AT&T (USL) lawsuit[1]. [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USL_v._BSDi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USL_v._BSDi