site_archiver@lists.apple.com Delivered-To: darwin-dev@lists.apple.com Basically it boils down to Apple's open source (for at least the kernel) is read-only, and only when they are in the mood to make it available. That's fine as it is their code and their license. But my original point still stands: Darwin, and Xnu in particular is far from a shining example of what an open source project should be. G _______________________________________________ Do not post admin requests to the list. They will be ignored. Darwin-dev mailing list (Darwin-dev@lists.apple.com) Help/Unsubscribe/Update your Subscription: http://lists.apple.com/mailman/options/darwin-dev/site_archiver%40lists.appl... El 18/08/2006, a las 21:05, Andrew Gallatin escribió: There are many was that something can be open source. "Community- driven" is one way which you seem to particularly value but it is not the only way. Apple's Darwin is another way; as you've said it's not really driven by the community, rather, all the work is basically done by Apple, mostly behind closed doors, and periodically released to the public. But it seems to me that Apple never intended to make their open source effort community-driven, and doing so would not necessarily be an "improvement" in their eyes. They always intended to write/ maintain all the code themselves. They give back the source for three reasons, probably: 1. Public relations 2. Ethical reciprocity: give back something to those that gave to you (Apache, GCC, FreeBSD etc) 3. To allow developers working at low levels to have insight into the workings of the OS, to make their products work better None of these goals require the community to be intimately involved in the process of making Darwin. Apple will probably make the community more involved as time goes by (Mac OS Forge, WebKit, for example) but only insofar as it doesn't get in the way of those three goals. And seeing as it's their OS that's fine by me; there are plenty of totally free, out-in-the-open alternatives if that's what you value. Needless to say even this latter form of open source is better than closed source. This email sent to site_archiver@lists.apple.com