Check out the whole bloody blowup when NetBSD discovered that FreeBSD used a few lines from their alpha port for FreeBSD/alpha:
Some NetBSD code was imported in to the tree and the copyright notice was inadvertently ommitted. NetBSD complained (Jason Thorpe, if I remember correctly) and the ommission was put right as soon as the FreeBSD committer in question (Doug Rabson, possibly, but I forget) was informed.
Big deal. It was dealt with. People screw up. They recover from their mistakes. That's life.
The point was that the Linux kernel developers can't throw a hissy-fit and yank big chunks out of the kernel.
Cool. Neither can the *BSD developers. Firstly, because the license doesn't let them (once its out there as BSD license someone else can't relicense the same code with a more restrictive license, such as the GPL).
Secondly, because the code's in CVS repositories mirrored around the globe. cvs checkout -r mumble gets you the code before it was yanked, and cvs commit mumble puts it straight back in the repository.
remember the end of 1998, when fbsd-current had like half of its drivers removed by some immature ppl in the core team?
FreeBSD-current had some old drivers removed that were no longer maintained and were not compatible with some new architecture decisions. In the process, some drivers that shouldn't have been removed were.
This was a mistake. It was acknowledged, and they were restored.
Yeah, the timing (over Xmas) sucked. People make mistakes. They get over it.
someone suggested that the core team should be elected by the user base, and the core team said "hell no".
I'm not a member of the core team, I'm just one of the 160 or so people that can commit direct to the FreeBSD source tree (remind me again: how many people can write to the Debian tree, or the RedHat tree, or the Slackware tree?).
Nevertheless, why would electing the core team make any sense? The core team oversees the architectural direction in which FreeBSD is going. I want competant engineers doing that, not people who win popularity contests.
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Some NetBSD code was imported in to the tree and the copyright notice was inadvertently ommitted. NetBSD complained (Jason Thorpe, if I remember correctly) and the ommission was put right as soon as the FreeBSD committer in question (Doug Rabson, possibly, but I forget) was informed.
Big deal. It was dealt with. People screw up. They recover from their mistakes. That's life.
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Cool. Neither can the *BSD developers. Firstly, because the license doesn't let them (once its out there as BSD license someone else can't relicense the same code with a more restrictive license, such as the GPL).
Secondly, because the code's in CVS repositories mirrored around the globe. cvs checkout -r mumble gets you the code before it was yanked, and cvs commit mumble puts it straight back in the repository.
Easy. huh?
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FreeBSD-current had some old drivers removed that were no longer maintained and were not compatible with some new architecture decisions. In the process, some drivers that shouldn't have been removed were.
This was a mistake. It was acknowledged, and they were restored.
Yeah, the timing (over Xmas) sucked. People make mistakes. They get over it.
I'm not a member of the core team, I'm just one of the 160 or so people that can commit direct to the FreeBSD source tree (remind me again: how many people can write to the Debian tree, or the RedHat tree, or the Slackware tree?).
Nevertheless, why would electing the core team make any sense? The core team oversees the architectural direction in which FreeBSD is going. I want competant engineers doing that, not people who win popularity contests.
N
I have dim memories of a program called "Merlin's Buddies" (or possibly "Merlin's Buds") from around about 1993 or thereabouts.
A brief web search doesn't turn it up, but my access if pretty slow at the moment which doesn't help.
Anyone else remember this piece of software?
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