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How Hardware Makers Come To Violate Free Software Licenses
H4x0r Jim Duggan writes "Veteran violation chasers Shane Coughlan and Armijn Hemel have summarized how license violations are caused in the consumer electronics market under time-to-market pressure and thin profit margins: 'This problem is compounded when one board with a problem appears in devices supplied to a number of western companies. A host of violation reports spanning a dozen European and American businesses may eventually point towards a single mistake during development at an Asian supplier.' They also discuss the helpful organizations which have sprung up and the documents and procedures now available."
BSD is where it is BECAUSE of GNU, Linux and the GPL. It's called "Riding the Coat Tails". First look at all of the GNU tools which make up BSD.
FreeBSD uses gcc, binutils, grep, tar, and maybe sed. That's it. Everything else in terms of both the core toolchain and textutils is their own version, and BSD versions of utilities required by the Single UNIX Specification are still maintained, that there are no GNU equivalents of. BSD also has its' own internal make; pmake with FreeBSD, and bmake for NetBSD/pkgsrc.
FreeBSD also actually uses the most GNU stuff. NetBSD has its' own port of tar, and OpenBSD has its' own ports of sed and grep. Porting OpenBSD's versions of those tools is something FreeBSD is seeking volunteers for, as well. All three also have their own C library as well, and it is vastly cleaner, lighter, and better integrated with their respective kernels than Glibc, as well.
Also, BSD not having a non-GNU compiler is not for lack of trying, I assure you. It is well understood how important and necessary it is to have a compiler that is outside the FSF's control; it has simply been difficult given the scope and complexity inherent in a compiler. There are a number of different candidate projects which look promising, but it is slow going, and the FSF's own non-standard extensions to standard C do not help.
I am fed up with the naked, blatant FSF mind control I keep seeing on Slashdot. The attitude here, about the BSDs riding coattails, and about how everyone in the entire world owes Stallman their soul, is baseless and pointlessly vicious. You only serve to emphasise the point; that the BSDs' developers are putting every effort into being free of the GNU project, and many of them very much look forward to the day when they have developed replacements.
I seek an end to fear. I seek an end to hate. I seek an end to paranoia. The Free Software Foundation promotes, and stimulates, all three of those things.
I do not hate the people who express the distortions and misconceptions which Stallman has taught them to believe; quite the opposite. Many of you are well-meaning, passionate individuals, as am I. The FSF has enslaved your minds, and continues to tell you to engage in fear, hate, and paranoia.
Stop fearing Microsoft. Stop hating them and the rest of the corporate world. Stop engaging in paranoia about reciprocity, again because of fear that the corporate world are going to erradicate FOSS in general. They are not.
This is why I continue to read and post to Slashdot, when according to all logic and sanity, I should have walked away long ago. I know cults. My parents were in Amway, and it destroyed my family. I studied Scientology and other such groups for years afterwards, trying to understand how it had happened.
I have a continuing need to try to save the people here who the FSF deceives and manipulates, on an ongoing basis. Until the FSF ceases to exist, I will remain here, and I will continue to fight.