Who maintains the code on that CVS server? If there's a bug in virtual
memory, who fixes it? The experts are here in Sun, and they will
continue to work on opensolaris.org. OpenSolaris is too large and
complex for even a small set of people to maintain an entire separate fork.
OK, they could pull bug fixes from opensolaris.org, but what happens to
them once one of their changes doesn't work with our changes? That's
the biggest danger of a fork. You're constantly playing catch-up.
If someone wants to do that, they can do that now. Knock yourself out.
James Carlson wrote:
Stephen Harpster writes:
Stack against that the issues we will have to endure if we dual
license - the potential for one license to be ripped off and the
source forked *incompatibly* (the incompatibility is the important
bit), the inability to move bug fixes between versions, the confusion
that dual-licensing will bring (just what *is* an "assembly exception"
anyway?).
Very unlikely that a source fork will happen. Let's face it. Most of
the people who know and understand all the intricacies of OpenSolaris
source code work at Sun. Who's going to fork? How will they maintain
that fork? Constantly chase opensolaris.org? And what happens if their
new incompatible changes don't work with the changes they pull from
opensolaris.org? It's not practical and I can't imagine it happening.
I can.
If the source becomes available under GPL, then an obvious fix to the
community's well-justified[1] frustration with our lack of openness,
speed, and flexibility in bug tracking, development, and integration
becomes possible.
All that someone has to do is set up a CVS server with Bugzilla
somewhere on the 'net, allow a simple registration process, and
prohibit the use of anything but GPL. Heck, putting it on sourceforge
or the like would probably do the trick.
This then becomes a _rival_ project to Open Solaris. They can take
new bits from opensolaris.org if they want, or they can just not care
to do so. They instead build an open community.
The result is a fracture over control issues that are akin to those
afflicting Zebra versus Quagga and some other open source projects.
If I had to place money on one of those horses to win, it almost
certainly wouldn't be the one saddled with a complex multi-license
scheme, fragmentary bug tracking, and developmental problems.
I'm pretty sure I've seen this movie before.
[1] Yes, I know we've made great progress. That's not the point.
--
Stephen Harpster
Director, Open Source Software
Sun Microsystems, Inc.
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