cottrell@nbs-vms.ARPA (03/01/85)
/* Lauren writes about his UUCP... > One reason you don't see much about how the protocol works is that > since it is embodied in trade-secret source code, it would be > illicit to read the UUCP source code to figure out the protocol > (and then use or publish that information in non-Unix-licensed environments). > I developed my own knowledge and versions of UUCP completely from the > outside, without any reference to UUCP source code. Yeah, but I bet you read the articles on UUCP in the manual set. How straight can you get? Who is going to know that you read the code? Experience is not copyrighted, patententable, or protected by trade secret. I suppose that if your license said you couldn't run yacc on Tuesdays, you probably wouldn't do it. Agreements often are more restrictive than they have to be in order to apply to the real misuses. There is a fine line between fair use and outright piracy. Try to find the happy medium. BTW, why do you call it UUCP? Isn't that stealing their name? jim */
eric@osiris.UUCP (Eric Bergan) (03/03/85)
> Yeah, but I bet you read the articles on UUCP in the manual set. How > straight can you get? Who is going to know that you read the code? > Experience is not copyrighted, patententable, or protected by trade > secret. I suppose that if your license said you couldn't run yacc on > Tuesdays, you probably wouldn't do it. Agreements often are more > restrictive than they have to be in order to apply to the real misuses. > There is a fine line between fair use and outright piracy. Try to find > the happy medium. BTW, why do you call it UUCP? Isn't that stealing > their name? > > jim > */ Is personal integrity such a vanishing quantity these days? Having met Lauren, I suspect he did not look at the code. Having looked at the code myself, I can state that it probably wouldn't have helped that much. The interaction of the various parts of UUCP, particularly the 'g' protocol itself, are arcane, to say the least. What I really don't understand is this attack! Lauren trys to explain some of the facts about UUCP, and you jump all over his case. Lauren has never tried to keep his knowledge of UUCP to himself, and has always answered questions (including some pretty inane ones) in a professional manner. This is, after all, unix-wizards, not net.flame. -- eric ...!seismo!umcp-cs!aplvax!osiris!eric