Re: Please release nano under less restrictive license so we can use it

On 2023-04-28 at 16:12 (-0500) Chris Allegretta wrote:

> On 2023-04-28 16:40, akierig wrote:
>> Gur:
>>
>> I say this with greatest respect as a lifelong Apple user but this is
>> a case where Apple Legal needs to get over its fear of the GPL3 and
>> start letting y'all use it. There are plenty of successful commercial
>> projects using GPL3 and as much as I'd like to see MacOS open 
>> sourced,
>> I doubt that will ever happen. It is what it is.
>
> Those interested should read this page about what befell attempts to 
> try and maintain an OS based on the Free core of Apple's OS 
> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin_(operating_system)

And there is now the Darling Project (https://darlinghq.org/) using 
Apple open-source components to build a Wine-like compatibility layer. 
It's been a while since I've checked in on it, but they made some 
promising progress last time I did.

> Apple has been moving away from the direction of openness and toward 
> absolute software and hardware control for a long long time, 
> presumably proportional to the amount of market share they maintained 
> at the time - i.e. embracing open standards and software as the little 
> guy in the late 90s, stomping them out as much as possible now as a 
> market leader. I sincerely hope this is not a surprise to anyone on 
> this list.
>
>> I don't think there is much Chris or Benno can do with regards to
>> changing the license, as the FSF has copyright to most of the code.
>> Given their disdain for Apple, I doubt they'd agree to change the
>> license.
>
> Why on earth anyone would want to re-license their software to someone 
> with Apple's user-hostile track record on both binary signing and 
> Right to Repair would indeed be a mystery.

It is sometimes a complicated task to be both a Mac OS and Linux user. 
But there are simple ways to get nano (and innumerable other open source 
programs) running on Mac OS without problem, I keep mentioning MacPorts 
for a reason.

cheers,

ander


(and now I realize the message Chris was replying to was sent from the 
wrong email address so it was bounced, oops.)