Putting your (and my) distaste for patented protocols aside, it is not
clear to me that patented protocols are incompatible with Ethereal. I
can see why an implementation of a patented protocol would be
incompatible with the GPL (without the author waiving patent rights),
but I don't see why a sniffer for this protocol would be incompatible
with Ethereal.
And the terms of the GPL specifically state that copyright holders, if
they license the code under the GPL, can make no limitation on the
usage of the code :-) Free speech, Voltaire and all that stuff.
-Ashok
On Mon, Sep 08, 2003 at 07:20:16PM +1000, Ronnie Sahlberg wrote:
> Oh,
> I missed the word patented.
>
> I am totally against patented protocols. Hopefully no one will ever use them
> and Ethereal should
> definitely not assist people in using them.
> Patented protocols or algorithms are an abomination.
>
> Patented protocols are NOT compatible with ethereal or GPL.
>
> Patented protocols that restricts what users can do with the protocols or
> who can implement them
> or are distributed in binary only form with special licence agreements or
> costs for using
> shall not be part of any code i contribute to.
>
>
> A much better solution is to either use
> 1, Sniffer Pro
> 2, NetMon
> 3, something else
> 4, write your own protocol analyzer which allows patented protocols and
> restrictions on use.
>
> Please do not use ethereal for these projects.
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Richard Sharpe"
> Sent: Monday, September 08, 2003 12:50 PM
> Subject: Re: [Ethereal-dev] Licensing/Distribution Question
>
>
> > On Mon, 8 Sep 2003, Pia Sahlberg wrote:
> >
> > > In case the protocol is so secret that the source code can not be
> > > distributed, there is no need to distribute protocol dissectors to third
> > > parties or customers either.
> >
> > I don't think that patenting a protocol is intended to keep it secret.
> > Rather, it is intended to allow the patent holder to charge anyone for
> > using the protocol.
> >
> > Think of being charged everytime you use SMTP, or POP, or whatever, or, at
> > least, paying a few cents to the patent owner for every app that uses the
> > protocol.
> >
> > In my view, everyone should avoid the protocol like the plague.
> >
> > There is speculation that Microsoft will do two things with the successor
> > to the SMB/CIFS protocol so they can control it totally and thus gouge
> > their customers for more:
> >
> > 1. Patent the protocol(s) to allow them to go after reverse engineers
> > with the big hammer of the law.
> >
> > 2. Use end-to-end enctyption to make reverse engineering that much
> > harder.
> >
> > Regards
> > -----
> > Richard Sharpe, rsharpe[at]ns.aus.com, rsharpe[at]samba.org,
> > sharpe[at]ethereal.com, http://www.richardsharpe.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Ethereal-dev mailing list
> > Ethereal-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> > http://www.ethereal.com/mailman/listinfo/ethereal-dev
>
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> Ethereal-dev@xxxxxxxxxxxx
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--
--- Asok the Intern ----------------------------------------
Ashok Narayanan
IOS Network Protocols, Cisco Systems
1414 Mass Ave, Boxborough MA 01719
Ph: 978-936-1608. Fax: 978-936-2218 (Attn: Ashok Narayanan)
