⇥ Someone should rewrite Busybox
BusyBox is a very useful set of core UNIX utilities designed with size in mind. As such, it is often used in embedded system, where memory comes at a premium and a compact environment is necessary.
BusyBox is released under the GPLv2, a license which they have been aggressively enforcing, thanks in part to help from the Software Freedom Law Center. So far, they have sued companies like Monsoon Multimedia (note how the plaintiffs’ addresses are redacted from the complaint, but how the defendant’s was left in) and Verizon for selling and distributing products that incorporate BusyBox without disclosing their firmware’s source code as required by the GPL.
Personally, I have no problem with the BusyBox folks suing the pants off of those companies that infringe on their license. They are, after all, very clear on their adoption of the GPL and what they expect those who use their software to do.
Morally, however, I find the GPL repugnant. Its fight-fire-with-fire principle of forcing anyone who uses a piece of software to disclose all their source code in turn betrays its purported ideals of freedom in a disgusting way. There is nothing free about inflicting the GPL on someone just because they use GPL’ed software—it is no different from, say, your cellular provider preventing you from connecting anything but their devices to their network, or forcing you into a contract in exchange for a discount on the cost of your handset.
Open-source software should exist and thrive not necessarily because it is better from a technical perspective (although that is usually a consequence of its other characteristics), but because it is unencumbered with artificial limitations that throttle’s someone’s ability to use it. These could take the form of a commercial developer preventing changes that encroach on their business model, or non-commercial developers who impose limitations on usage and development on others to “encourage” transparency and openness. They are both artificial and limiting—but because the first set of limitations is enforced with profit as the ultimate goal, the peddlers of the GPL want us to think that it is somehow “wrong,” while the GPL’s viral characteristics are just and fair.
As a case in point, I am convinced that if someone came up with an alternative implementation of BusyBox that provides a compatible drop-in replacement that is not, however, encumbered by the GPL, but, say, released under a BSD-style license, BusyBox would suffer an immediate and definitive death for the simple reason that the “freedom value” of the replacement would be so much higher. I would even be willing to be that participation in the development of the replacement would be higher, simply because developers who use the software would not feel constrained by the overbearing limitations of the GPL.
Comments
This is hardly fighting fire with fire. This is either ignorance (not knowing the GPLs terms) or poor judgment (attempting to escape the GPLs terms), neither of which is excusable.
A license is a license is a license. Proprietary or free, GPL or BSD, there is still a license attached to a piece of software, and it’s there for a reason.
Disappointing opinion… I don’t think for a second that we’d have _any_ open-source software today if not for the GPL’s birth 20 years ago. And I think that if we lost it today, there would be no more OSS in another 10 years.
The GPL does not require those who use software to do anything whatsoever. Only those who distribute software in binary form must offer a copy of source. And even then not every binary distributor must do so, if it is unmodified and non-commercial.
No one inflicts the GPL on anyone. The makers of the hardware are free to use whatever software they see fit. They are also free to contact the busybox developers and negotiate a separate use license that’s not the GPL. Verizon, and others, could have also chosen to license a toolkit from a separate company, or used BSD tools. They have chosen not to do so and must face the consequences of not legally complying with the busybox terms of use. No one forced them to use it.
I am convinced that if someone came up with an alternative implementation of BusyBox that provides a compatible drop-in replacement that is not, however, encumbered by the GPL, but, say, released under a BSD-style license, BusyBox would suffer an immediate and definitive death for the simple reason that the “freedom value” of the replacement would be so much higher.
By this logic, Linux would have been abandoned long ago in favor of one or more of the BSD operating systems.
Hi Marco,
Unfortunately, you’ve misunderstood the terms of the GPL. I’ve posted a response to your post here.
Actually the author doesnt understand “free” means “freedom” not free as in “beer”. The GPL is a pure license, it doesnt remove copyright from the author so terms set by the author are legally binding. What Im seeing here is Verizon trying to get code for free as in beer and totally ignore the authors wishes. Verizon at no time were forces into the GPL agreement they could have used BSD code if they wanted to. To put it simply the GPL is a your scratch my back, I will scratch yours and Verizon doesnt want any part of scratching or assisting anyone other than themselves.
Such an alternative already exists if you wish to use it – embutils.
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winrar免費下載
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KMPlayer下載
無蝦米正式版xp
海賊王漫畫連載
emule繁體中文版
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office 2007下載
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