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Sun Submits New License for Open Source Approval

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the still-don't-play-well-with-others dept.

Wannabe Code Monkey writes "Sun has submitted their Common Development and Distribution License to the Open Source Initiative for approval as an Open Source license. It appears that this license is what Sun plans to release Solaris under according to an article at news.com.com.com. Of particular note is: 'The CDDL is not expected to be compatible with the GPL, since it contains requirements that are not in the GPL,' Claire Giordano of Sun's CDDL team said in its submission."

1 of 218 comments (clear)

  1. If you RTFA... by kscguru · · Score: -1, Redundant
    If you read the license... it's the MPL. That's right, the Mozilla Public License. Looking at the diff version, they went through and changed a bunch of wording (e.g. "Code" -> "Software").

    IANAL, but the only significant (to me, at least) difference I saw is Sun retains for themselves the authority to release the code under another license in the future.

    My interpretation: they want to make sure that any code someone adds to OpenSolaris can still be distributed by Sun as closed Solaris. Too many GPL zealots would love to cripple Sun by adding GPLed code to OpenSolaris and thereby prevent Sun from distributing closed-source products, so I think this is a pretty reasonable addition. To any GPL zealot out there: most of us don't believe the GPL is manna from heaven, but rather view it like Microsoft: attempting to monopolize and homogenize the software market under one distribution scheme. I'm pleased to see Sun trying to find a way to release code without pandering to the GPL mob.

    Now, for those not paying attention, let me repeat myself ONE MORE TIME.

    It's the MPL
    It's the MPL
    It's the MPL
    It's the MPL. Got that?

    --

    A witty [sig] proves nothing. --Voltaire