Re: openbkweb-0.0

Henning Schmiedehausen
2003-02-16T20:16:28Z

On Sat, 2003-02-15 at 17:58, Christoph Hellwig wrote:
> What is the particular problem for you that some kernel developers _do_
> use BitKeeper. What got worse to you over the old-style prepatches?

Well, the problem I have is not of a technical nature.

Actually (even if you wouldn't believe it), I do encourage Larry to
continue his product and I do hope that he earns vast amounts of money
with it. From the numbers of emails that I got, BK really seems to be a
great product which helps developers tremendously. I have no problem
with BK being a non-free product and it is solely Larrys' decision to
sell it or give it away for free or keep it for himself. It is his
product and his call.

The problem I have is, that at some point the BK company might be forced
to change the rules. Maybe Larry isn't in charge anymore. Maybe he needs
money. Maybe at some point kernel development _relies_ on BK. What if BK
decides that there are no more free licenses from this day on?

I have a problem with a core product of the free software movement
starting to rely more and more on a product which is controlled by a
single company. And I have a problem with the kernel being developed
under a vague but nevertheless possible threat of changing the BK
license.

Regards
Henning

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