Subject: Re: Sendmail 8.9.0?
To: Ty Sarna <tsarna@endicor.com>
From: matthew green <mrg@eterna.com.au>
List: current-users
Date: 05/29/1998 12:17:37
   Is anyone working on merging sendmail 8.9.0?

others have posted their views, but there is one thing people haven't
explicitly meantioned.  in my view, we _cannot_ ever distribute
sendmail 8.9.0 with netbsd, or as a binary package, because of this
text in the new sendmail license:

-----
1. Redistributions qualify as "freeware" or "Open Source Software" under
   one of the following terms:
 
   (a) Redistributions are made at no charge beyond the reasonable cost of
       materials and delivery.
 
   (b) Redistributions are accompanied by a copy of the Source Code or by
       an irrevocable offer to provide a copy of the Source Code at the
       cost of materials and delivery.  Such redistributions must allow
       further use, modification, and redistribution of the Source Code
       under substantially the same terms as this license.  For the
       purposes of redistribution "Source Code" means the complete source
       code including all modifications.
 
   Other forms of redistribution are allowed only under a separate royalty-
   free agreement permitting such redistribution subject to standard
   commercial terms and conditions.  A copy of such agreement may be
   obtained from Sendmail, Inc. at the above address.
-----


the first sentence of 1. (b) is the problem to me.  "irrevocable offer
to provide a copy of the Source Code".  that's an *awful* long time to
be bound..  even the GPL limits this to 3 years (which makes it an
acceptable thing for an entity such as The NetBSD Foundation, Inc.)