Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software [LWN.net]

Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software

Posted Oct 7, 2004 18:57 UTC (Thu) by edgewood (subscriber, #1123)
In reply to: Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software by socket
Parent article: Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software

I agree with evgeny, above, as that's how I interpreted the statement when I originally read it.

Also note that it takes time to go through the code to ensure that there isn't third-party code that they're not licensed to release, and remove and replace it if there is.

And since they've kept their promise before (see Sistina, above), I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt here.

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Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software

Posted Oct 7, 2004 22:20 UTC (Thu) by smoogen (subscriber, #97) [Link]

I think one of the issues that takes the longest is doing a code check. Finding out that you had a large segment of BSD code that you just tried to relicense as GPL does not earn one friends it would seem ;P

Red Hat acquiring Netscape Enterprise Solutions software

Posted Oct 8, 2004 13:31 UTC (Fri) by edgewood (subscriber, #1123) [Link]

Redistributing BSD licensed code under the GPL could create a PR problem, but it's legally allowable: the BSD license allows redistribution and is compatible with the GPL.

The real problem with open sourcing a previously proprietary codebase is the potential inclusion of third-party proprietary code. If Netscape included some module from Widgets, Inc, under a license that allowed distribution in compiled form only, Redhat would violating the license if they released that code as part of the NES codebase. So they have to comb through the code and the legal archives looking for things like that, and if they find anything, replace it with code they do have the right to redistribute.