Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!cunixf.cc.columbia.edu!shenkin From: shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Peter S. Shenkin) Newsgroups: comp.sys.sgi Subject: Re: GNU Emacs compiling/executable. Message-ID: <1991Jan7.143141.22061@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu> Date: 7 Jan 91 14:31:41 GMT References: <80033@sgi.sgi.com> Organization: Columbia University Lines: 34 In a previous posting, Bob Bruccoleri suggests that SGI should distrubute GNU software as part of 4Dgifts. Elsewhere Vernon Schreyer suggests reasons SGI might not like to do this. Actually, SGI personnel have been extremely helpful to those attempting to port GNU software to Iris workstations, by means of their participation in this Newsgroup, and for me, getting source and/or binaries from brl is good enough. But there's also another alternative: namely, the IRIS software exchange. If anyone wanted to distribute sources plus binaries for any combination of the gnu packages using this mechanism, it would be within the letter and spirit of the gnu copyright. I don't know the mechanism for getting it onto Monica's release tape, but perhaps Monica or someone else at SGI could comment on this. The "Prologue" to the Iris Software Exchange Catalog states that "... Software... are [sic] considered to be copyrighted by the auther... No commitments as to functionality or support can be made... The authors and SGI cooperate to ensure that each program... contains Source code, makefile, man page, README." Some of the software is distributed directly from author to clients, and some is distributed by SGI at a cost of $100 per cartridge. The advantage of this form of distribution is that a user would be fairly certain of receiving code patched to work on Irises. Of course, the question still remains, who's going to do the patching, or the gathering of patches, and a testing to make sure things work. -P. ************************f*u*cn*rd*ths*u*cn*gt*a*gd*jb************************** Peter S. Shenkin, Department of Chemistry, Barnard College, New York, NY 10027 (212)854-1418 shenkin@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu(Internet) shenkin@cunixf(Bitnet) ***"In scenic New York... where the third world is only a subway ride away."***