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Groklaw's 'Grokline' To Document *nix History

Posted by timothy on from the would-make-a-great-poster-but-an-awful-postcard dept.

trick-knee writes "Grokline hopes to fill in the ownership aspect of the history of UNIX. According to the announcement on Groklaw.net, Pamela Jones intends to flesh out Eric Levenez's UNIX timeline with ownership information. The idea is that this is an application of the open source model in the area of law: if enough eyes see this, someone might be able to anticipate a legal attack and the community may be able to forestall it somehow. We don't really want another SCO foodfight, I don't think."

11 of 88 comments (clear)

  1. A good thing. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not just a legal convenience for linux supporters, but something that could someday be useful as a historical document.

  2. can they add the Vendor(rhat, etc) kernels? by ron_ivi · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I think it'd be interesting to see the customized vendor kernels like the RedHat ones and the RT ones like lynuxworks, tymesys, montevista as well.

  3. Unix Ownership in general... by TJ_Phazerhacki · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think that although this sounds like a great idea simply for the historical and leagal precident, the issue becomes what will it really protect, or prevent? SCO has filed enough hair-brained and far fetched lawsuits, that if anything even resembling this happens in the future, the courts will (hopefully!!!) nip it in the bud of their own accord. If another Million dollar lawsuit about hot coffee hits the docket, the judge will (likely) toss it and hand a summary jugement for physical damage. The legal system is trying to fix itself, finally. But all in all, a good idea - where can I buy the Poster?

    --
    Physics is nothing like religion. If it was, we'd have an easier time trying to raise money!
  4. codifying history by pedantic+bore · · Score: 5, Interesting
    This cuts both ways -- if there are abiguities or arguments about the history, it could provide an opportunity for the lawyers to get involved again. It's the first rule for organizations in the public eye: never argue in public.

    Not to mention that some GPL advocates I know are going to go ballistic at the idea of the UNIX community calmly and objectively discussing who owns what. I'm not sure that this is going to really help.

    --
    Am I part of the core demographic for Swedish Fish?
  5. Do you think that will work? by cculianu · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I presume you mean this should be done to somehow defend Linux. However, Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds, and the code is owned by the people that wrote it. Having a UNIX timeline contain annotations on who owned what when has nothing to do with Linux -- really.

    You can't prevent some crazy FUD company like SCO suing using baseless claims with such a timeline.

    Basically, I am not sure how the existance of this timeline does anything to prevent SCO II: The Wrath of McBride, or SCO III: The Search for a Clue...

  6. Avoid, or cause... by LostCluster · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Would this project scare away SCO-monsters, or possibly create one by calling them and asking if they realized that their forefather company contributed code to Linux years ago....

  7. Don't do it..... by Jailbrekr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Sco will find a way to use this history to further 'prove' that source code was acquired from commercial software at specific times from specific companies, using nothing more than the fact that some feature was added to linux on a specific date. This aids insane companies like SCO who want to find relationships and infringement where there really was none... go back far enough, and no one from the time/company/developer will be able to defend their IP...

    --
    Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
  8. Don't Fight the Last War by Markus+Registrada · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The most important lesson they teach in what used to be the War College is, "Don't fight the last war". The next attack will be over something else entirely, because IBM has already shown that attacking the Linux kernel via copyright is too hard. The smart money is on patent attacks, most likely on some key non-kernel component (e.g. GNOME).

  9. Head off lawsuits, or create them? by Warlok · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I can see this being a two-edged sword. The stated purpose is fine, but what if someone finds out some code they worked on being attributed to someone else, maybe someone they worked for at one time? If Groklaw can document the attribution, that gives ammunition to lawsuits that may not be obvious to everyone.

    --
    ...and you run and you run and you can't stop what's been done...
  10. Re:Biggest Problem with Grokline by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    That part of Grokline is coming. We don't have that page coded yet, but you are right. It is the heart of the matter.

    PJ

  11. Re:Busy busy busy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

    Almost. Groklaw is my personal, noncommercial site. No one pays me to do it.

    PJ