Date: Thu, 08 Jul 2004 22:20:12 -0500 From: Chapman Flack <flack@cerias.purdue.edu> To: doc@freebsd.org Subject: Two comments on 'Commercial Applications' FAQ Message-ID: <200407090320.i693KCwr003043@basm.cerias.purdue.edu>
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Hi,
I just noticed two things about the commercial applications section of
the FAQ.
6.2. Where can I get Motif=AE for FreeBSD?
The Open Group has released the source code to Motif 2.1.30. You can
install the open-motif package, or compile it from ports. Refer to
the ports section of the Handbook for more information on how to do
this.
Note: The Open Motif distribution only allows redistribution if
it is running on an open source operating system.
In addition, there are commercial distributions of the Motif software
available. These, however, are not for free, but their license allows
them to be used in closed-source software.
This section seems to make the Open Motif licensing sound worse than
it is. The Open Motif license condition is that it must be run on
an open source OS. Of course for anyone thinking of installing
Open Motif on FreeBSD, the condition is trivially satisfied. It's
even satisfied if the user wants to redistribute FreeBSD with Open
Motif on it--the only exception is if the user wants to redistribute
as a closed-source FreeBSD-derived OS.
It could be misleading to say of the commercial distributions "but
their license allows them to be used in closed-source software".
The reader might think that refers to *linking Motif apps on
his FreeBSD box and selling the apps as closed source*. But that's
perfectly fine under the Open Motif license; it's clearly spelled
out in the OpenGroup FAQ. http://www.opengroup.org/openmotif/faq.html
So the *only* infringement risk with Open Motif is if the user wants
to bundle it with a modified FreeBSD and distribute that as a
closed-source OS. But buying Motif in a box from Apps2go or MetroLink
or XiG doesn't help in that case either; I'm sure they would frown
on having their commercial product redistributed that way. A person
who wanted to distribute a closed OS with Motif would really have to
negotiate a license for that, any way you slice it. But for any other
use of FreeBSD, there is no reason to be concerned about the
Open Motif license.
6.3. Where can I get CDE for FreeBSD?
Xi Graphics used to sell CDE for FreeBSD, but no longer do.
KDE is an open source X11 desktop which is similar to CDE in many
respects. You might also like the look and feel of xfce. KDE and xfce
are both in the ports system.
This answer I think could be taken as misleading by somebody who
has an actual need or interest in CDE. KDE is only "similar to"
CDE in some outward, superficial respects ... if you pick the right
theme it might /look/ similar. dtksh isn't there, ToolTalk isn't
there, the appbuilder isn't there, the APIs are all different--as
the guy said in Linux Journal, "there is much more to CDE than meets
the eye" (http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=3D2324) and the
only part you can get with KDE or xfce is the part that meets the eye.
I think it would be better to give a slightly longer answer, mentioning
that unfortunately nobody's offering CDE for FreeBSD at the moment, and
KDE and xfce are available and may suffice if nothing matters but
outward appearance, but be clear about all of the cool CDE
infrastructure that won't be there, and any available information
about what pieces might be becoming available (e.g. Open Motif is
now available, real ksh93 has finally been opensourced and the dtksh
extensions would probably not be that hard to reimplement in a pinch,
and maybe with that trend some arrangement could be reached for the
rest of the infrastructure, given interest).
Chapman Flack
flack@cs.purdue.edu
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