Re: [LIH] PGP & Mutt

[Arun Sharma <adsharma@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

<quarterly GNU education bulletin>

On Mon, May 15, 2000 at 02:02:43AM +0530, Ravikant K.Rao wrote:
> 
> 	Yes, That's where PGP is... but you really should be using GNU 
> tools.

This topic refuses to die :) That's just your opinion - and a
controversial one. I for example, have the opinion that GNU/GPL'ed tools
should be avoided, in favor of other open source licenses listed at
http://www.opensource.org/licenses whenever it is practical. So let's
please keep this topic out of the main list (linux-india-help).

> Start using OpenSSH, though it doesn't support Compression *At
> The Moment* 

Yes. And OpenSSH has nothing to do with GNU or GPL - just in case you 
thought otherwise.

Follow this link for the exact license terms:

http://www.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/usr.bin/ssh/COPYING.Ylonen?rev=1.6

OpenSSL actually prohibits GNU'fying of such code:

http://www.openssl.org/source/cvs/exp/LICENSE?rev=1.6&hideattic=1&sortbydate=0

[..]
 * The licence and distribution terms for any publically available version or
 * derivative of this code cannot be changed.  i.e. this code cannot simply be
 * copied and put under another distribution licence
 * [including the GNU Public Licence.]
 */

Most people don't give a sh*t about all this license stuff - and most 
serious programmers don't care about how the code gets used, they just
want to stay out of legal trouble. I like to see things stay that way,
rather than going on the extremist path of GNU'fying the whole world
(Gnome, GPG, Gfoo, Gbar..)

More info:

http://sharmas.dhs.org/~adsharma/opinions/gpl-is-unrealistic.html

</quarterly GNU education bulletin>

	-Arun

-- 
Programmers should have unrestricted freedom to pursue material
comforts. Giving away software is not incompatible with this freedom.

	-Arun Sharma (freebsd-chat, Sat, 13 May 2000)