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[parent] [thread] 7 comments
1. pingsw+(OP)[view] [source] 2011-11-15 02:31:15
Yeah, I see your point. But I think it would be lame for me to make fun of them for a year (or however long Honeycomb has existed in closed-source form) and then not at least acknowledge that they did finally release the source. I said "well done," but maybe "at least you're in compliance with the GPL" would be more appropriate.
replies(2): >>uberno+4 >>orange+l
2. uberno+4[view] [source] 2011-11-15 02:32:31
>>pingsw+(OP)
"Well done, you've put in the bare minimum amount of effort required to still get away with the open-source moniker" is not particularly flattering...
replies(1): >>pingsw+o
3. orange+l[view] [source] 2011-11-15 02:38:47
>>pingsw+(OP)
They've always been in compliance with the GPL; the Honeycomb kernel sources were always available.
replies(1): >>pingsw+u
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4. pingsw+o[view] [source] [discussion] 2011-11-15 02:40:20
>>uberno+4
You are correct. That is approximately my feeling about the situation, but, like giving a dog a treat when it behaves well, I think it's good to praise companies for behaving adequately because I think it increases the chances that they will keep doing it.

You hear that, diBona? Keep releasing the code!

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5. pingsw+u[view] [source] [discussion] 2011-11-15 02:43:31
>>orange+l
I hadn't heard that. Is that verifiable by any means at this point?

It still doesn't justify the "open source" moniker, but it's still good.

replies(2): >>wmf+c2 >>dtparr+86
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6. wmf+c2[view] [source] [discussion] 2011-11-15 03:14:43
>>pingsw+u
The kernel source was at http://android.git.kernel.org/ but that server was subsequently destroyed in an unrelated incident and at this point you'd need a time machine to verify that it was really there and hasn't just been backdated, but yeah, it was available.
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7. dtparr+86[view] [source] [discussion] 2011-11-15 04:53:45
>>pingsw+u
I suppose they could have backdated google groups, but here is JBQ's announcement of the 3.2 GPL's parts being released in July. http://groups.google.com/group/android-building/msg/6410b447...

And here's a thread discussing building the 3.1 GPL'd code in May. http://groups.google.com/group/android-building/browse_threa...

replies(1): >>pingsw+4l
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8. pingsw+4l[view] [source] [discussion] 2011-11-15 12:37:48
>>dtparr+86
Thanks for the links; they're convincing. I'm surprised that Google hasn't made their GPL compliance here more prominent. It's something I've heard criticized, but it sounds like the criticisms are illegitimate.
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