Resurrecting this bit of discussion from June, as I get caught up on list matters. :-)
> On Tue, 23 Jun 2015, Mercury Thirteen wrote: > >> I'm still reviewing the packages to ensure they're all open source >> compliant. >> >> What are we considering acceptable in this regard? Are we going only with >> software which has been made available under one of the GNU licenses >> exclusively? Obviously programs which are free but have no source available >> should be excluded (e.g. Pegasus) but if the source code is freely >> available and/or public, yet not explicitly released under the GPL, does >> this also suffice for inclusion? On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 3:01 PM, Steve Nickolas <[email protected]> wrote: > Personally - this is just my opinion - I would use this guideline: a > program is open source if the source is freely available to use, modify > and redistribute (in any combination, commercially or noncommercially). > Or, in other words, the same idea as > https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.en.html . > > That's just my opinion though. FreeDOS has always used the slightly more liberal view of "open source software" v "free software." Certainly my view is that FreeDOS needs to include source code, otherwise why are we creating a "Free" DOS? But the license doesn't need to be from the Free Software Foundation (GNU GPL). FreeDOS programs that are GNU GPL, or BSD, or MIT, etc. are all fine. In the past, we had included some programs that didn't include source code, but allowed users to install it and use it and share it. This was great at the time, and we went there. That's why we added a few programs like Pegasys Mail. But as time goes on, we've been stung by one or two instances where not having the source code caused a problem. So now, my goal is the FreeDOS 1.2 distribution should *only* include programs that provide source code (GPL, BSD, MIT, etc.) If the program is "freeware" (binary only, no source code) I don't think it should be in the FreeDOS distribution. That's the official FreeDOS 1.2 distribution, of course. I've always supported people who want to create their own "spin" of the FreeDOS distribution, and include their own software. That's still cool. FreeDOS is free, and you should be free to share and remix per the license. So if someone else wants to create an "unofficial" FreeDOS distribution that includes some "no source code" freeware, go for it. Jim ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ _______________________________________________ Freedos-devel mailing list [email protected] https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-devel
