[ros-dev] very confused

theUser BL theuserbl at hotmail.com
Fri Feb 17 15:36:21 CET 2006


Hi!

I am now very confused.

It seems for me, that the current informations about ReactOS´s situation is 
poor. And if there existing informations, they are IMHO contradictorily.

On 27.1.2006 Steven Edwards wrote "Reset, Reboot, Restart, legal issues and 
the long road to 0.3"
http://www.reactos.org/xhtml/de/news_page_14.html

In this text there is no word about leaked Windows-code. So it seems, that 
the main problem is revers engineering, which is not clean room rev. eng.

One day later a developer says in the forum
http://www.reactos.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=13239&highlight=#13239
"The biggest problem isn't disassembled code. The fact is that 4 of the 
developers have had a copy of the leaked Windows source."

So, the biggest problem is, that some ROS-developer have looked in leaked 
code.

He have said that, and nobody have contradicted it.

But at
http://www.reactos.org/archives/public/ros-dev/2006-February/007832.html
a developer says to me
"The leaked source code was never an issue here, that was an escalation of
the mail which was posted on the public list. The rumours which materialized
from that were unfounded and untrue."
and the cvs tree will be completly re-opend.

In an other mail, I don't find it at the moment, anybody says, that there is 
still no Microsoft-Code found in ROS. All is clean.

On the following
http://www.reactos.org/pipermail/ros-dev/2006-February/007717.html
a developer says
"I am told that the sources for FreeLdr are all okay, except for the
some of the bootsectors having been pretty much just disassembled from
MS's. Is this true?"
The answer comes from an other developer
http://www.reactos.org/pipermail/ros-dev/2006-February/007722.html
"crashfourit has posted a patch here:"

That means, that it is possible, that MS-bootsector-code have found the way 
in ROS, if I understood it right.

And at
http://www.reactos.org/archives/public/ros-general/2006-February/002128.html
somebody cite something where a Codewaever chef says, that in ROS is stolen 
code.


I have at the current no links, but I have the feeling, that there existing 
a lot of more comments like these, which me all confused very much.



And then ReactOS gives for me more questions then answers.

What does the Audit-process mean?
You have - as somebody says - already seen, that no Windows-Code is in 
ReactOS.
But you want with the audit look for code, which are integrated by (not 
clean room) reverse engineering.
But how do you want to find it?

The clean room inverse enginering is like re-writing an existing book, 
without reading the existing book itself. Only reading review, critiques and 
summaries about the book are alowed to read.
But there existing some people who have reverse enginered, but not clean 
room. This is like someone, who have completly read the book itself and 
tries to write the book what he read then down in mind.
But how do you want to become out, who have read the original book and who 
not?

Steve Edwars have written "and the long road to 0.3". Is it still true, that 
it needs now longer, until 0.3 comes out? The tree will already be opend. 
Does it mean, that 0.3 comes only after the end of the audit-progess out? If 
this is true, comes then before the end of the audit other releases out 
(0.2.10, 0.2.11, .... etc) ?

You see. I am very confused.

I don't expect that you answer to my mail here.
I only want, that your public clarification,
http://www.reactos.org/archives/public/ros-dev/2006-February/007832.html
Murphy have written "The whole tree will be reopened in the state it was in 
before it closed.
More details will follow when this happens.", will really clarify all. So 
that no longer confuseness for anyone exists.


Greatings
theuserbl




More information about the Ros-dev mailing list