Lack of open source shown as negative part of D on Dr. Dobbs

[deadalnix]

Le 10/05/2012 00:22, Jonathan M Davis a écrit :
> On Wednesday, May 09, 2012 23:47:57 deadalnix wrote:
>> Le 09/05/2012 23:31, Joseph Rushton Wakeling a écrit :
>>> On a more practical level, the inability of 3rd parties to distribute
>>> DMD could have an effect in limiting points of access to the software,
>>> with corresponding effects on the possible channels of contribution. The
>>> ability to scale up the number of distribution and contribution channels
>>> is going to be increasingly important as D develops.
>>
>> And even more practical : I can't bundle dmd with an IDE for D to
>> provide an easy setup for a user. I can't create a repository where dmd
>> sit in to make it easy t install on linux. This make it harder for
>> beginner to get started with D.
>>
>> I can't even fork dmd. And this is probably the most important one.
>>
>> FOSS typically work in a dictatorship manner. This is ok, because the
>> dictator HAVE TO do the right thing, or the project will fork and a new
>> dictator will take the lead.
>>
>> Having a non open source compiler as reference implementation is a major
>> issue. Unless you are microsoft, google or some other huge company, you
>> can't afford that.
>>
>> Walter is arming his baby by trying to protect it.
>
> Umm. No. While Walter is the original creator of the backend, it was owned by
> the company that released it (Zortech) not him. Semantec bought Zortech, so
> they own the compiler. Digital Mars uses it with their permission (via
> licensing or leasing or whatever they did). So, Walter is bound by the license
> that Semantec uses for the backend.
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zortech
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Mars
>
> Walter can give redrisribution permissions if you ask (which he typically does
> quite freely), but I don't believe that he can give blanket permissions, and
> he definitely can't change the license. He's tried. As I understand it, if
> Walter could make the backend GPL, he would, but he can't.
>
> - Jonathan M Davis

Understood. That is quite sad.