Xref: utzoo comp.lang.c:26459 comp.misc:8373 Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!apple!voder!pyramid!unify!dgh From: dgh@unify.uucp (David Harrington) Newsgroups: comp.lang.c,comp.misc Subject: Re: Silly Copyrights (was Re: Legal uses of lex & yacc) Message-ID: Date: 1 Mar 90 20:57:33 GMT References: <90049.104719MCCABE@MTUS5.BITNET> <271@xyzzy.UUCP> <34421@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> <659@mwtech.UUCP> Reply-To: dgh@unify.UUCP (David Harrington) Organization: Unify Corporation, Sacramento, CA, USA Lines: 48 In article <659@mwtech.UUCP> martin@mwtech.UUCP (Martin Weitzel) writes: >In article <34421@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU> jwl@ernie.Berkeley.EDU.UUCP (James Wilbur Lewis) writes: >[nob relevant stuff deleted] >>I just looked; none of these files contain copyright notices. > > >> >>It'd be silly to copyright those files, because that would >>render these tools useless for commercial software development! >>You couldn't even distribute the binaries because they're derivative >>works (right?) > >Experience tells, that companies do in fact silly things with >copyrighting: > >2) IMHO it's against the spirit of UNIX, to have 'limited user' licences, > because there is no "natural way" to enforce this. Practical > methods vary from vendor to vendor (what is a user? An entry in > /etc/passwd? A tty-line? How does UUCP count? What about multiple > sessions on Multi-Screens? Under X-Windows?) It's easy to define and detect a user. Each time a piece of software is invoked, it is invoked by a user. Bump the counter by 1. Techniques can be a license daemon, hard-wired code, or a file. What does UUCP have to do with it? or X? >3) I quote from my license for my ISC 386/ix: > "... [you may] either (a) make one (1) copy of the Software > solely for backup purposes or (b) transfer the Software to > a single hard disk provided you keep the original solely > for backup or archival copies" > (no kidding: It seems, that I am not allowed, to make regular > backup-copies of the hard disk to several tapes. This *is* silly.) Hey, they're doing you a favor. Why do you want to back up the OS regularly? Are you making changes to the kernel, and if so, how? Binary or hex? Not backing it up saves tape, and time. [Small punctuation flame: why do you put commas in random places in, your sentences? It really, makes reading your sentences, hard.] -- David Harrington internet: dgh@unify.UUCP Unify Corporation ...!{csusac,pyramid}!unify!dgh 3870 Rosin Court voice: (916) 920-9092 Sacramento, CA 95834 fax: (916) 921-5340