More DTrace envy [LWN.net]

More DTrace envy

Posted Jul 3, 2008 16:32 UTC (Thu) by willy (subscriber, #9762)
In reply to: More DTrace envy by bcantrill
Parent article: More DTrace envy

Brian, if you want DTrace to be part of Linux, just dual-license it.  You can release your
code under "CDDL or GPL" and then it can happily become part of Linux.  I, for one, would
welcome that.

to post comments

More DTrace envy

Posted Jul 3, 2008 17:30 UTC (Thu) by bcantrill (guest, #31087) [Link] (7 responses)

Brian, if you want DTrace to be part of Linux, just dual-license it. You can release your code under "CDDL or GPL" and then it can happily become part of Linux. I, for one, would welcome that.

Dual licensing is something that the OpenSolaris community is very strongly against -- in part because dual licensing creates the possibility of a license-based fork. (Which given the enmity towards both Sun and the CDDL among many in the Linux camp, seems to be a very real possibility.) And again: we don't "want" DTrace to be a part of Linux -- it's up to the Linux community to want that, just as it was up to the FreeBSD, MacOS X and QNX developer communities to want it...

More DTrace envy

Posted Jul 3, 2008 19:33 UTC (Thu) by bronson (subscriber, #4806) [Link] (2 responses)

FreeBSD, MacOS X, QNX...  So all we have to do is relicense the Linux kernel under BSD?  Well,
why didn't you say so!  That sounds so easy!

Perhaps you're interpreting a specific licensing incompatibility as a lack of desire from the
Linux community?  I can assure you, the community as a whole really does want to integrate
DTrace.  A lot!  TONS.  It would happen in a matter of weeks if only the licenses allowed it
to be possible.

More DTrace envy

Posted Jul 3, 2008 20:00 UTC (Thu) by bcantrill (guest, #31087) [Link] (1 responses)

Now there's some big talk!  Do you have any idea of the technical details involved in this, or
are you one of the ESR groupies who believes that given "enough eyeballs" pixies and fairies
magically solve all problems?  I can assure you from working with Paul that the Linux
idiosyncrasies are making the DTrace port rougher going than most -- and porting DTrace is a
deeply technical endeavor on the best of days.  So it would not show up in a "matter of
weeks", even if it were GPLv2 and Torvalds himself were doing the port.  (Sacrilege, I know.)

More DTrace envy

Posted Jul 3, 2008 21:16 UTC (Thu) by bronson (subscriber, #4806) [Link]

I was careless and I'm sure you're right.  What I *should* have said is, "lots of Linux devs
would spend a lot of their time incorporating DTrace, if only the licenses allowed it."

But my point remains: you seem to be interpreting license problems as a lack of desire.  The
desire is there, no question!  If the licensing problems could just be fixed somehow, I'm
confident the Linux camp would devote amazing hours to DTrace.

As it is, they have to devote amazing hours to replicating DTrace.  :(

More DTrace envy

Posted Jul 3, 2008 19:42 UTC (Thu) by k8to (guest, #15413) [Link]

Wow, more disingenouousness.  I'm impressed.

More DTrace envy

Posted Jul 4, 2008 9:33 UTC (Fri) by dark (guest, #8483) [Link]

Dual licensing is something that the OpenSolaris community is very strongly against -- in part because dual licensing creates the possibility of a license-based fork.

No, it doesn't. Even if there were a GPL-only fork, SUN could simply use the GPL code in its CDDL products, under the "legal arguments don't matter" approach that you advocate. After all, they are both free software licenses.

Or does the shoe pinch on the other foot?

More DTrace envy

Posted Jul 6, 2008 2:13 UTC (Sun) by dirtyepic (guest, #30178) [Link]

Dual licensing is something that the OpenSolaris community is very strongly against -- in part because dual licensing creates the possibility of a license-based fork.

How can you fear a licensed-based fork when incompatible licenses are a "moot, philosophical matter"?

fork fears could be worked out

Posted Jul 7, 2008 18:09 UTC (Mon) by JoeBuck (subscriber, #2330) [Link]

The issue of a fork could be worked out. Sun count agree to dual-license DTrace, and Linus and the other kernel developers could agree to dual-license all improvements to that code that are accepted into the internal tree. This would neutralize any legitimate fears on the part of OpenSolaris developers that the Linux side would take and not give. It might require some re-architecting to separate out common code, from code that is Solaris-specific or Linux-specific. But Sun would gain a larger developer community to help improve the code.