FreeBSD and Linux

[Chris Bitmead uid(x22068)]

>Additionally, please take License issues *very* serious. The GPL
>doesn't allow includion of sources with *any* other licenses. This is
>not a problem for CMUCL, which is explicitly public domain (== nothing
>you can't do), but it is for importing BSD sources, which state you
>have to name the author and makes it incompatible with the GPL. Linux
>folks ignore this usuallay and place code under the GPL and leave the
>statement about credits, which isn't allowed by the GPL. 

This is a non-issue. If you are worried about including BSD style
source just make a one-line amendment to the GPL saying that licences
that merely require attributing credit are not incompatible.

Besides which, RMS interprets it this way anyway. The GNU hurd has the
BSD networking code in it.

>Using the GPL, for example, might bring us support from the FSF, while
>a BSD lincese might attrack commercial companies to push the project
>into something usable and then take the source and make a commercial
>branch from it (which I don't have anythihg against, but others
>might).

The experience from Linux seems to be that plenty of commercial
companies are willing to take up the cause and contribute back patches
which obviously a Good Thing. Compare BSDi which keeps everything
proprietry.