Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Red Hat releases Netscape Directory Server to OSS

Posted by Hemos on from the free-free-set-them-free dept.

parry writes "Red Hat has released the Netscape Directory server acquired from Netscape Security Solutions under a "GPL + Exception" license. The Fedora Directory Server is made up of a number of different pieces of software, each with their own licensing. "

5 of 130 comments (clear)

  1. Not precisely a dupe by The+Woodworker · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The article last week was a press release type article. Lots of fluff, no content. Now we're getting the content. So it's not really a dupe. More of a late update.

    --
    Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day. Teach him to fish and he'll wipe out the species.
  2. What we need is: by nighty5 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    An easy to use Directory Service that:
    * childsplay to install
    * hides the LDAP schema from admins that don't need to know
    * a GUI / web console to add, delete, alter LDAP attributes
    * easy integration into the O/S with a few file changes: PAM modules
    * is easier to get going than OpenLDAP

    I hope that the new Fedora project will do something like this, I saw the admin toolkit but no source is available yet, only binary packages - since I run gentoo i'll wait... Might be interesting!

  3. Re:Oh well.... by gst · · Score: 2, Insightful

    If you prefer to have an LDAP server under in the public domain then go and code one yourself. Did you pay ANYTHING to redhat to release their LDAP server? No? Then shut the fuck up and either use it or don't. But don't complain about things which others give away for free. As long as you neither contribute to the code nor pay anything to get it under another license NOBODY will care about your opinion of the GPL.

  4. License by tpv · · Score: 2, Insightful
    It's basically a half way point between the GPL and the LGPL.

    For most Open Source developers the easiest thing to do is to just use the software under the GPL.

    However, if you use the software as a library, and only make use of the specific APIs that Red Hat has listed, then it effectively becomes like the LGPL. You are not obliged to release your code under the GPL.

    But unlike the LGPL, the set of allowed APIs is fixed, and defined by Red Hat. In a LGPL program you can open up new APIs and change existing APIs and as long as you release your changes to the library, you don't need to GPL your program. With the NS Directory Server, you can change the APIs all you want, but the new APIs you create can only be used under the GPL - i.e. you have to release your program under the GPL too.

    --
    Read more of this story at Slashdot.Read more of this story at Slashdot.Read more of this story at Slashdot.
  5. Re:typical slashdot by Creepy+Crawler · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Our time is better suited at DOING THINGS rather than reading yet another useless, boring license.

    Let the legalese geeks do their thing.

    --