An error in mailing somewhere sent this back... I am resending 
this... in case you get two of the same... you know why :)

******

A few days ago I mentioned that USL had given FreeBSD the okay to 
release 1.1g and as I expected there were more questions about the
validity of this.  I therefore asked my source for the message 
itself which he forwarded to me... Here are the pertinent parts
(I removed questions about installation and getting the actual 
distribution)

> 
> 
> 	After some delay, the FreeBSD group is very pleased to announce the
> 	release of FreeBSD 1.1 GAMMA!
> 

[a myriad of questions answered, removed - about why upgrade...]

> 
> 
> Q. WHAT ABOUT THE LEGAL PROBLEMS I HEARD ABOUT?
> 
> A. Thanks to an exceptional willingness on USL's part to negotiate on
>    this (when they could have simply said "No" and left it at that), we
>    are now able to do this 1.1 Release.
> 
>    NOTE: ** FreeBSD 1.1 will be the LAST Net/2 based release of FreeBSD **.
> 
>    Subsequent releases of FreeBSD will based on the BSD 4.4 LITE code and
>    all future releases of FreeBSD will be completely `unencumbered'.  The
>    terms of this are mandated by the recent UCB/USL settlement and are
>    non-negotiable.
> 
>    This is not to say that FreeBSD users will be due for an enormous
>    shock as their favorite OS mutates beyond all recognition, far from
>    it.  We will be approaching the port with great conservatism, taking
>    care to finely balance the needs of legality (4.4 lite) and stability
>    (unencumbered portions of the old code base), and we are very
>    optimistic about FreeBSD's future as a stable, high performance
>    operating system with all the features (and Internet support) that
>    people have come to expect from us.
> 
>    Folks who are interested in knowing more about (or, even better,
>    participating in) this process are encouraged to write to us at:
> 
> 	freebsd-hackers@freefall.cdrom.com
> 
> 

[more questions removed]

> 
> You will also want to grab a copy of the new FAQ, the most up-to-date
> copy of which is always in:
> 
> 	freebsd.cdrom.com:~ftp/pub/FreeBSD/FAQ
> 
> This contains very useful information about our mailing lists, hardware
> supported and a host of other things.
> 
> As always, we hope you enjoy FreeBSD as much as we have enjoyed
> producing it!
> 
> 				The FreeBSD Team
> 
> 
> 

I hope this clears some of it up and points you in the right direction
for the rest of your questions.  If it is true and useful to us then 
while USL is handing out permissions maybe we should get in line...


 - Eric.
 
******


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