Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!clyde.concordia.ca!uunet!mcsun!hp4nl!phigate!prle!prles2!cst!meulenbr From: meulenbr@cst.philips.nl (Frans Meulenbroeks) Newsgroups: comp.os.minix Subject: Re: Selling of free software Message-ID: Date: 9 Aug 90 06:54:59 GMT References: <5414@castle.ed.ac.uk> <26259@usc.edu> <26149@nigel.udel.EDU> <6--4A8C@xds13.ferranti.com> <1990Aug8.173146.1206@santra.uucp> Sender: news@prles2.prl.philips.nl Lines: 32 [lots trimmed] jkp@cs.HUT.FI (Jyrki Kuoppala) writes: >misunderstanding). I think there's a lot of user-contribued stuff >distributed with Minix. The authors have allowed free use of that >stuff, fine. But I suppose all the software in Minix comes with >Prentice-Hall copyright, so you aren't allowed to redistribute that >free stuff, either, if you got it with Minix, right ? Please tell me >I'm wrong. Hmm. I'm not a lawyer, but I think PH only holds copyright to part of the sources, and a compilation copyright to the rest of the stuff. If you contribute a program with a copyright notice allowing unlimited distribution, PH will surely respect it, and people can take it off the MINIX disks without any problems (my opinion/interpretation). However, if the wording is very strictly and there is a possible implication that it also has effect on the other MINIX stuff it is probably rejected. The stuff on the MINIX disks is the same stuff that is posted by ast. Part of the utilities carries copyright notices of other people or institutions. For instance look at the code or more(1). I think that you can take the more sources from the MINIX disks, and do with it whatever you want as long as you comply with the copyright notice in more.c Sometimes I speak for me. Sometimes not. I definitely do not speak for Philips, PH, Free University, ast, anyone else. -- Frans Meulenbroeks (meulenbr@cst.philips.nl) Centre for Software Technology ( or try: ...!mcsun!phigate!prle!cst!meulenbr)