[ros-dev] Bye bye

[Wesley Parish]

That as I understand it, is the policy that IBM used for reverse-engineering 
MS Wind3.x for IBM OS/2.  So it's well understood.

Wesley Parish

On Fri, 20 Jan 2006 06:58, Joseph Galbraith wrote:
> Steven Edwards wrote:
> > Hi Hartmut,
> >
> > On 1/19/06, Hartmut Birr <osexpert at googlemail.com> wrote:
> >> If it is legal by the ReactOS policy to disassemble every piece of
> >> windows code to implement ReactOS, I would like it if ReactOS can put
> >> this on the home page as the first topic.
> >>
> >> This type of reverse-engineering is prohibited by law in many countries.
> >> It gives M$ a very easy way to kick the project.
> >>
> >> I can't believe that the project was started with this justification.
> >
> > No this is clearly a violation of the policy
> >
> >>From Section C of the ReactOS IP Statement (C. Copyrights of Others)
> >
> > ....Any source code produced by direct reverse engineering should be
> > treated in exactly the same way as any other non-free source code -
> > useful for study and understanding of the system, but not permitted
> > for inclusion in ReactOS.
> >
> >> My recommendation for ReactOS is:
> >>
> >> 1) Review the ReactOS project development policy
> >
> > I think the policy is clear that this type of dirty-room reverse
> > engineering should be used as a last resort only.
>
> Personally, I think that if the project is to survive
> (and I suspect it may be too late) the policy should
> be:
>
>   If you look at a piece of windows in a disassembler,
>   you MUST NOT implement that code for ReactOS.  You
>   can write a document describing what is necessary
>   and put that document in SVN.  Some other developer(s)
>   MUST do the implementation-- furthermore, they MUST
>   do the implementation without discussing it with
>   you-- they MUST work strictly from the document you wrote.
>
> That may be harsh, and slow down progress, but I suspect
> that is the only way ReactOS would survive a legal challenge.
>
> Probably, to be safe, we'd actually need to say:
>
>   If you look at windows in a disassembler, you
>   MUST NOT write code for ReactOS.  Sorry, thats
>   the way it is.  But wait!  You can still help with
>   the project by looking at this list (link to list)
>   of things we need to know in order to be compatible
>   with windows.  Then, discover this information using
>   the disassembler, and write a specification (plain
>   English, no code or pseudo-code please) that describes
>   what we need to know and submit it to the project
>   for inclusion in our repository.  One of our developers
>   will then (eventually) get around to using your
>   specification to correct our implementation to be
>   compatible.
>
> I'm not sure we'd ever get that through... but that is the
> way it should be.
>
> Of course, I'm not a lawyer ... so what do I know.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Joseph
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-- 
Clinersterton beademung, with all of love - RIP James Blish
-----
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