On Mon, Nov 25, 2002 at 09:28:02PM -0600, Gerald Combs wrote: > The original goal of the project was to create a commercial-quality > analyzer for Unix. It has (for me at least) expanded to the best > multi-platform analyzer. This includes supporting as many protocols as > possible.
[...] > We can't ignore the fact that we have a large and growing user base, and > they depend on Ethereal as a solid, quality product. It's apparent to me > that if we keep the product purely GPL, we won't be able to support quite > a few protocols. This conflicts with the original and present goals, and > does a disservice to the user base. Some excellent points - thanks. > > Do binary only dissectors go against the vision the original authors of > > Ethereal had? Perhaps Gerald can answer this. > > I am completely opposed to binary-only plugins, and won't agree to any > license change that would allow them. (I'm not sure what good they would > do anyway; it probably wouldn't be difficult to reverse-engineer one using > randpkt and <your favorite scripting language>.) True - it's happened before many times. Will it trigger any particular patent issues with the protocol in question? I guess that depends on the wording of the patent. Does simply displaying the contents of packets received on a network interface violate a patent? I don't think the contents of a network packet are patentable anyway (copyrightable perhaps though). Ethereal is not participating in any sort of process or exchange of information that defines a network protocol. More fuel for the fire. (-: Tim.
