So I have a Digi CM48 terminal server, it’s pretty cool and uses an embedded Linux.

[eschaton@mastodon.social]

So I have a Digi CM48 terminal server, it’s pretty cool and uses an embedded Linux. Unfortunately its embedded Linux is ancient.

What’s worse, though, is that Digi says it’s sufficiently out of support that they “can’t” give me a link to the source code they’re required to provide under the terms of the GPL.

#gpl #opensource #linux

[dhmspector@mastodon.social]

@eschaton ugh. The problem with all open source licenses isn’t that they aren’t aspirationally good, it’s that the courts don’t and won’t enforce them.

Companies figured this out long ago and have used the free labor of the OSS community to, as Cory Doctorow says, “enshitify” every aspect of tech.

[mrgtwentythree@mastodon.sdf.org]

@eschaton was it less than 3 years ago? the text for eg, gplv3 (and was same for v2 afaicr):

b) Accompany it with a written offer, valid for at least three years, to give any third party, for a charge no more than your [ ... ]

[kmeisthax@pooper.fantranslation.org]

@Dhmspector @eschaton Copyright is inherently Wilhoitist ("there are groups to whom the law binds but does not protect" yada yada) and FOSS licensing is built on copyright.

Ergo, the strongest copyleft clause in the world cannot tie the hands of the creator of the software (because copyright does not bind creator-owners) and even those who would have their hands tied cannot be bound by anyone but the creator-owner.

Some days, I feel the BSD people understood copyright way better than Stallman.