BitKeeper licence critic

[John Tapsell]

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Joerg,

  Hi :)

  I'm working on replacements for all the gnu utilities, so I'd be grateful 
if you fill in a few details, and give me some recomondations...

> >AFAIK GNU tar makes POSIX compliant tars if you use the --posix
> >option. I've done enough stuff with GNU tar, but GNU/Linux and
> >GNU/Hurd are the only operating systems I use for real work.
> Many GNU users have this wrong assumption, this is why I am more and more
> angry with the people who wrote documentation tha makes users believe
> untrue things about the GNU programs...


  What would you say is wrong exactly?  Excuse me for my ignorance...
And why is it not fully POSIX compliant?

  The trouble is that we are 'stuck' with backwards compatibility, and 
forwards compatibility.  If we add features to programs, we then are no 
longer compatible with everyone else (everyone else being other NIX's, and 
people who don't use the latest-and-greatest)

  This is good in some peoples books - after all everyone seems to be against 
'bloat'.  But for example I patched tar to auto detect compression - but it 
was of course a hated feature... ;)



  JohnFlux
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