book

Open Sources

by Chris DiBona, Sam Ockman

January 1999

Intermediate to advanced

280 pages

8h 52m

English

O'Reilly Media, Inc.

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1.1. Prologue1.2. What Is Free Software and How Does It Relate to Open Source?1.3. What Is Open Source Software?1.4. The Dark Side of the Force1.5. Use the Source, Luke1.6. Innovation Through the Scientific Method1.7. Perils to Open Source1.8. Motivating the Open Source Hacker1.9. The Venture and Investment Future of Linux1.10. Science and the New Renaissance
2.1. Prologue: The Real Programmers2.2. The Early Hackers2.3. The Rise of Unix2.4. The End of Elder Days2.5. The Proprietary Unix Era2.6. The Early Free Unixes2.7. The Great Web Explosion
3.1. Early History 3.2. Early Distributions 3.3. VAX Unix 3.4. DARPA Support3.5. 4.2BSD3.6. 4.3BSD3.7. Networking, Release 13.8. 4.3BSD-Reno3.9. Networking, Release 23.10. The Lawsuit 3.11. 4.4BSD3.12. 4.4BSD-Lite, Release 2
4.1. The History of the IETF4.2. IETF Structure and Features4.3. IETF Working Groups4.4. IETF Documents4.5. The IETF Process4.6. Open Standards, Open Documents, and Open Source
5.1. The First Software-Sharing Community5.2. The Collapse of the Community 5.3. A Stark Moral Choice 5.4. Free as in Freedom 5.5. GNU Software and the GNU System5.6. Commencing the Project 5.7. The First Steps 5.8. GNU Emacs 5.9. Is a Program Free for Every User? 5.10. Copyleft and the GNU GPL 5.11. The Free Software Foundation 5.12. Free Software Support 5.13. Technical Goals 5.14. Donated Computers 5.15. The GNU Task List 5.16. The GNU Library GPL 5.17. Scratching an Itch? 5.18. Unexpected Developments 5.19. The GNU HURD 5.20. Alix 5.21. Linux and GNU/Linux 5.22. Challenges in Our Future 5.22.1. Secret Hardware 5.22.2. Non-Free Libraries 5.22.3. Software Patents 5.22.4. Free Documentation 5.22.5. We Must Talk About Freedom 5.23. “Open Source” 5.24. Try!
6.1. Cygnus in the Early Years 6.2. GNUPro 6.3. Challenges 6.4. Getting Funded Beyond Open Source—eCos 6.5. Reflections and Vision of the Future
7.1. The Software Engineering Process7.1.1. Marketing Requirements7.1.2. System-Level Design7.1.3. Detailed Design7.1.4. Implementation7.1.5. Integration7.1.6. Field Testing7.1.7. Support7.2. Testing Details7.2.1. Code Coverage Analysis7.2.2. Regression Tests7.3. Open Source Software Engineering7.3.1. Marketing Requirements7.3.2. System-Level Design7.3.3. Detailed Design7.3.4. Implementation7.3.5. Integration7.3.6. Field Testing7.3.7. Support7.4. Conclusions
8.1. Amiga and the Motorola Port8.2. Microkernels8.3. From Alpha to Portability8.4. Kernel Space and User Space8.5. GCC8.6. Kernel Modules8.7. Portability Today8.8. The Future of Linux
9.1. Where Did Red Hat Come From?9.2. How Do You Make Money in Free Software?9.3. We Are in the Commodity Product Business9.4. The Strategic Appeal of This Model to the Corporate Computing Industry9.5. Licensing, Open Source, or Free Software9.6. The Economic Engine Behind Development of Open Source Software9.7. Unique Benefits9.8. The Great Unix Flaw9.9. It’s Your Choice

11.1. It’s All About Platforms 11.2. Analyzing Your Goals for an Open-Source Project 11.3. Evaluating the Market Need for Your Project11.4. Open Source’s Position in the Spectrum of Software11.5. Nature Abhors a Vacuum11.6. Donate, or Go It Alone? 11.7. Bootstrapping 11.8. What License to Use? 11.8.1. The BSD-Style Copyright 11.8.2. The Mozilla Public License11.8.3. The GNU Public License 11.9. Tools for Launching Open Source Projects
12.1. History12.2. KDE, Qt, and Troll Tech12.3. Analysis of the Open Source Definition12.3.1. The Open Source Definition (Version 1.0)12.4. Analysis of Licenses and Their Open Source Compliance12.4.1. Public Domain12.4.2. Free Software Licenses in General12.4.3. The GNU General Public License12.4.4. The GNU Library General Public License12.4.5. The X, BSD, and Apache Licenses12.4.6. The Artistic License12.4.7. The Netscape Public License and the Mozilla Public License12.5. Choosing a License12.6. The Future
14.1. Making It Happen14.2. Creating the License14.3. Mozilla.org14.4. Behind the Curtain14.5. April Fool’s Day, 1998
15.1. Beyond Brooks’s Law 15.2. Memes and Mythmaking15.3. The Road to Mountain View 15.4. The Origins of “Open Source” 15.5. The Accidental Revolutionary15.6. Phases of the Campaign 15.7. The Facts on the Ground 15.8. Into the Future
B.1. GNU General Public LicenseB.1.1. Table of ContentsB.1.2. GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSEB.1.2.1. PreambleB.1.2.2. TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATIONB.1.2.3. How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

Content preview from Open Sources

Chapter 12. The Open Source Definition

Bruce Perens

The typical computer user owns lots of software that he bought years ago and no longer uses today. He may have upgraded his computer or changed brands, and then the program wouldn’t work any longer. The software might have become obsolete. The program may simply not do what he needs. He may have bought two or more computers, and doesn’t want to pay for a second copy of the software. Whatever the reason, the software that he paid for years ago isn’t up to the task today. Does that really need to happen?

What if you had the right to get a free upgrade whenever your software needed it? What if, when you switched from a Mac to a PC, you could switch software versions for free? What if, when the software doesn’t work or isn’t powerful enough, you can have it improved or even fix it yourself? What if the software was still maintained even if the company that produced it went out of business? What if you could use your software on your office workstation, and your home desktop computer, and your portable laptop, instead of just one computer? You’d probably still be using the software you paid for years ago. These are some of the rights that Open Source gives you.

The Open Source Definition is a bill of rights for the computer user. It defines certain rights that a software license must grant you to be certified as Open Source. Those who don’t make their programs Open Source are finding it difficult to compete with those who do, as users ...