distribution of changes

[Dennis Ritchie dmr@plan9.att.com]

The question arises

   Since we are bound by the licence not to distribute modified versions 
   of THE SOFTWARE to anyone without a licence, do we have a plan by 
   which we can authenticate licensees?

It would be reasonable to assume for practical purposes that anyone
who goes to the trouble of subscribing to 9fans is either a licensee or
a member of an organization that has a licensee (I'm proud that
I sneaked that clause into the shrink-wrap).

Anyone can get the entire authentic source for $350.  I'm quite
certain that quoting fragments of it on a mailing list, or archiving
repaired versions of things on an FTP site, is unlikely
to be objectionable until the quantity grows
to a level at which Plan 9 can be reconstructed more cheaply
by seining out its source from the list--that is, the point at which
demonstrable harm begins to exist.  If that happens, expect
mail from us asking you to stop, please; also expect mailbombs
from 9fans readers who already have the system and don't
want to find another copy in their mailboxes.

	Dennis