Date: Fri, 24 Nov 2006 14:32:35 +0800 From: "Mark Jayson Alvarez" <markjayson.alvarez@gmail.com> To: freebsd-questions@freebsd.org Subject: Knowing if someone really stole someone else's code Message-ID: <cf5917110611232232o42aa03edpbf7fa3b084ddfdd0@mail.gmail.com>
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Hi, It's been almost three years since I started using opensource software, specifically FreeBSD. I'm glad that I'm learning a lot of things from it. Things that I'm sure I would never have learned if I haven't entered this so called opensource world. Things that I can say, have positively affected my life in a certain way. HALT!!! Before you proceed reading, let me just tell you.. If in anyway you feel, that this email, with such a catchy subject line, have completely gotten your attention and consumed at least 10 seconds of your most precious time that you think should have been spent for answering other freebsd related questions worth answering hence the list title "freebsd-questions", my deepest appologies. If by the looks of it you may have noticed that this email is not properly broken down into paragraphs or it contains MIME or was submitted in an HTML format that would really annoy you, or this should have been sent into -anyotherlist instead... appologies as well. I have tried my best not to sound like a troll, I've seen the netiquette RFCs, read a lot of how to ask good questions, where to ask it, came across the words like "just fucking google it", rtfm, bikesheds, flaming, apple vs. orange, that "doofus" thread, avoid saying you're a n00b.. etc. etc. still I can't help but ask this: If I download a program source code with, let's say BSD license, and compile it. How does one know if I really stole his code? If someone sue me, will the court require me to provide the source code for my program and compare it to what he's claiming is the original code? If this is the case, what if I really have my own version of the source code, but when I compile it, it runs a lot slower than his program, so I just use his program instead. And when the court ask me to show my source code, I would instead give my "slower" version of the source code. Will the court just let someone do the benchmark just to find out if what I gave was really the source code for my program? Thanks. -jay
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