Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.programming > #3196 > unrolled thread

open-and-closed case

Back to article view | Back to comp.programming

Contents

  open-and-closed case bob <bob@coolfone.comze.com> - 2013-03-26 15:15 -0700
    Re: open-and-closed case David LaRue <huey.dll@gte.net> - 2013-03-26 22:48 +0000
      Re: open-and-closed case Ian Collins <ian-news@hotmail.com> - 2013-03-27 20:17 +1300
      Re: open-and-closed case Geoff <geoff@invalid.invalid> - 2013-03-27 01:07 -0700
    Re: open-and-closed case Robert Wessel <robertwessel2@yahoo.com> - 2013-03-26 17:54 -0500

#3196 — open-and-closed case

Can someone help me understand how Apple has so much closed source stuff when their systems are based on Unix?

How can it go from open to closed like that?

Thanks.

[toc] | [next] | [standalone]

#3197

bob <bob@coolfone.comze.com> wrote in
news:2e4225be-286d-4763-830f-3aa705bd0f98@googlegroups.com: 

> Can someone help me understand how Apple has so much closed source
> stuff when their systems are based on Unix? 
> 
> How can it go from open to closed like that?
> 
> Thanks.

Hello Bob,

First of all as far as I know some Apple stuff is hosted on linux, not 
Unix.  linux itself it open source.  If you develop starting with the 
open source code, then yes you typically have to release the code.  You 
can archive that and not ship with the product.

When you use linux and the known APIs as your base and program on top of 
that you are free to stay closed source.

How much of each Apple uses I have no idea.

These facts are to the best of my knowledge.  I've not read the licenses 
that linux has for the Apple base nor for the Apple OS.

I had a friend that could port linux to Windows and thus run the Apple 
Mac OS on a Windows machine.  Standards get you freedom like that.  I 
don't recall what version of the OS that was but it is long past.  I'm 
not an Apple user these days so I can't give many details on the 
subject.  They pay me well to use Windows so I have to use that.  I play 
with a few other things at home, mostly cars these days.

David

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#3199

David LaRue wrote:
> bob <bob@coolfone.comze.com> wrote in
> news:2e4225be-286d-4763-830f-3aa705bd0f98@googlegroups.com:
>
>> Can someone help me understand how Apple has so much closed source
>> stuff when their systems are based on Unix?
>>
>> How can it go from open to closed like that?
>>
>> Thanks.
>
> Hello Bob,
>
> First of all as far as I know some Apple stuff is hosted on linux, not
> Unix.

No, OSX is BSD based, which is definitely UNIX.

-- 
Ian Collins

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#3200

On Tue, 26 Mar 2013 22:48:00 +0000 (UTC), David LaRue
<huey.dll@gte.net> wrote:

>First of all as far as I know some Apple stuff is hosted on linux, not 
>Unix.

OS X is a fork of UNIX BSD 4.2 as anyone with Xcode installed would
know. All the man pages are from BSD so you don't even need Xcode to
see them.

Apple does open its source: http://www.opensource.apple.com/ but not
for those products that it originated independent of the BSD licenses.

Here's a chart of the UNIX pedigree.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/Unix_history-simple.png

Linux is a UNIX-like system but it isn't UNIX. It's based on what is
supposed to be independently developed code.

[toc] | [prev] | [next] | [standalone]

#3198

On Tue, 26 Mar 2013 15:15:27 -0700 (PDT), bob <bob@coolfone.comze.com>
wrote:

>Can someone help me understand how Apple has so much closed source stuff when their systems are based on Unix?
>
>How can it go from open to closed like that?


The BSD licenses are more permissive of that sort of thing, probably
one of the reasons Apple went with FreeBSD and NetBSD as the basis for
OS X, although part of that was indirect via their inclusion of some
of the NeXT stuff.

In any event, they do release a fair chunk of the kernel changes under
the BSD licenses.

But even with GPL, much of the stuff they wrote themselves doesn't
have to be open, so long as it doesn't incorporate any GPL'd code.  So
a lot of their UI code is closed.

[toc] | [prev] | [standalone]

Back to top | Article view | comp.programming

csiph-web