Re: obsd legal question

[Nick Holland <nick@holland-consulting.net>]

"Rogelio M. Serrano Jr." wrote:
> Can OpenBSD be bought? Is there a legal way to fork OpenBSD?

Gee, had to go hunting in your message for the actual content...

Bought?  Depends what you mean.
The CDs?  Obviously.
The "project"?  Well, you would have to pay off a lot of developers
to...well, do whatever you wanted to do after "buying OpenBSD"...and
pay them enough to keep them from reforming under a different name. 
I'm sure some of us are pretty principled and would be hard to buy
off, esp. if we sensed deep pockets. ;)


Not only *can* it be forked, the CD set is basicly a "Fork Kit".  If
you move to a deserted and isolated island, with nothing but a few
computers and accessories, a power company and no other software but
the OpenBSD CDROM set, you could install OpenBSD, and proceed to
continue development or fork it off in your own direction.  On that
CD, you have:
  Self-sufficient and self-building OS (at least on most platforms)
  Source
  Developement tools
  Mail, web and DNS servers
  GUI
  Music (ok, one song might get a tad tiresome after a few months)
  documentation

You would need NO external Internet connection, no other outside
resources. 

What stops people from properly forking OpenBSD?  Nothing: THAT'S THE
POINT.

So what keeps there from being an infinite number of forks?  Well,
there are issues in setting up a fork -- you need to have a website,
mail list and a logo...er..oops, I mean leadership, developers, users,
purpose, etc., and a way to fund operations.  You need to listen to a
bunch of Linux people laughing at all those BSD forks and saying
"Distros aren't the same!  There is one Linux!" (and get work done
when you would rather be laughing). In short, it is a lot of work,
requires a lot funding, so all the existing projects really gotta rot
your socks to be worth it.  But, if you feel OpenBSD isn't responsive
to *your* needs, go for it! (though do it right.  "Right" is not
hitching a ride on OpenBSD (or other people's) resources).  

Which all means it is unlikely we are going to get bought out.  Guess
that means I'm not going to be getting $10 Million a year to not write
FAQ articles. 8)

Nick.
-- 
http://www.holland-consulting.net