From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 MIME-Version: 1.0 In-Reply-To: <500F8BAD.3020102@paradise.net.nz> References: <500F3CB6.105@paradise.net.nz> <500F6896.4010605@paradise.net.nz> <500F8BAD.3020102@paradise.net.nz> Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2012 07:14:59 -0700 Message-ID: From: David Leimbach To: Fans of the OS Plan 9 from Bell Labs <9fans@9fans.net> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=e89a8ffbae69ae98b504c5a81a26 Subject: Re: [9fans] Plan 9 technical docs and man pages - licensed or "public domain"? Topicbox-Message-UUID: a51420f0-ead7-11e9-9d60-3106f5b1d025 --e89a8ffbae69ae98b504c5a81a26 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 11:01 PM, Andy Elvey wrote: > On 25/07/12 16:06, John Floren wrote: > (snip) > > Just write the code, nobody cares. The manual pages define an interface, > and you're going to implement it. The manual pages are copyrighted, sure, > because they're written works and are automatically protected by copyright. > Besides the recent Google vs. Oracle fiasco, I can't think of a time an > open-source project had legal problems by writing new code to implement an > API. And, based on a brief reading of > http://www.groklaw.net/pdf3/OraGoogle-1202.pdf, it looks as though a US > judge has ruled that an API is not subject to copyright; if you implement > the 9P API, you should be fine. Also, since you're doing a free > reimplementation of code which is currently available free to everyone by > the creators (Lucent), I have a hard time figuring out exactly what basis > they'd have for a lawsuit. john > > Hi John - thanks for that. > Thanks also to everyone who has commented in this thread - you've been > very helpful! This is one of the most helpful lists that I've been on. > This feedback is very useful as a guide to how to proceed. > > Although I'm not running Plan 9 at present (I'm on Linux), I'm very > impressed with its elegance. Everything from kbdfs to the plumber to the > Venti filesystem - it's all beautifully thought-out. The way that Venti > uses SHA1 hashes to store data reminds me a lot of Git (which I also really > like - there's another elegantly designed bit of software). > Thanks again, all - bye for now :) > - Andy > > Linux of course has v9fs which is a 9P implementation in the kernel. --e89a8ffbae69ae98b504c5a81a26 Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable

On Tue, Jul 24, 2012 at 11:01 PM, Andy E= lvey <andy.elvey@paradise.net.nz> wrote:
=20 =20 =20
On 25/07/12 16:06, John Floren wrote:
(snip)
Just write the code, nobody cares. The manual pages define an interface, and you're going to implement it. The manual pages are copyrighted, sure, because they're written works and are automatically protected by copyright. Besides the recent Google vs. Oracle fiasco, I can't think of a time an open-source project had legal problems by writing new code to implement an API. And, based on a brief reading of http://www.groklaw.net/pdf3/OraGoogle-1202.pdf, it looks as tho= ugh a US judge has ruled that an API is not subject to copyright; if you implement the 9P API, you should be fine. Also, since you're doin= g a free reimplementation of code which is currently available free to everyone by the creators (Lucent), I have a hard time figuring out exactly what basis they'd have for a lawsuit. john
Hi John - thanks for that.=A0
Thanks also to everyone who has commented in this thread - you've been very helpful!=A0 This is one of the most helpful lists that I'= ve been on.
This feedback is very useful as a guide to how to proceed.

Although I'm not running Plan 9 at present (I'm on Linux), I= 9;m very impressed with its elegance. Everything from kbdfs to the plumber to the Venti filesystem - it's all beautifully thought-out.=A0 The way that Venti uses SHA1 hashes to store data reminds me a lot of Git (which I also really like - there's another elegantly designed bit of software).=A0 =A0
Thanks again, all - bye for now :) =A0
- Andy=A0
=A0

Linux of co= urse has v9fs which is a 9P implementation in the kernel. =A0=A0

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