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List:       bitkeeper-users
Subject:    [Bitkeeper-users] CVS gateway, BKL intent clarification
From:       Evan Powers <powers.161 () osu ! edu>
Date:       2002-12-07 21:45:42
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The university department I'm employed by is doing some research programming 
and is currently using CVS to host their repositories.

Since the development is distributed between it and other universities, things 
are getting kind of hairy. I've suggested that we switch to bitkeeper. The 
powers that be have expressed interest, but there are a couple issues.

It's uncertain whether we can convince the other universities to make the 
switch. (We control the codebase, but not completely.) So it would help 
greatly if we could host our own repositories with bitkeeper yet present some 
kind of CVS interface. I've found the discussion about CVS gateways in the 
bitkeeper-users archive, and I understand the issues involved. We'd probably 
implement only minimal functionality.

The code doesn't have an explicit license yet, but it will probably be 
opensourced. In any case, if we use BK, it would be under the BKL since 
buying commercial licenses won't fly.

Now to the point of this email:

I vaguely remember something Larry McVoy posted to linux-kernel (or something 
like it) in response to people suggesting the creation of CVS gateway 
software.

If I remember correctly, he said that BitMover considered CVS gateways to fall 
under the following BKL clause:

	Notwithstanding  any  other  terms  in  this  License, this
	License is not available to You if You and/or your employer
	develop,  produce, sell, and/or resell a product which con-
	tains substantially similar capabilities of  the  BitKeeper
	Software,  or,  in the reasonable opinion of BitMover, com-
	petes with the BitKeeper Software.

We wouldn't want to run afoul of the BKL, so I'm posting in the hope that 
someone at BitMover can elaborate on the company's position. I may even be 
remembering Mr. McVoy's post incorrectly; it has been some time since I saw 
it.

Sincerely,
Evan Powers

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