Misplaced Pages

Theo de Raadt: Difference between revisions

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
Browse history interactively← Previous editContent deleted Content addedVisualWikitext
Revision as of 14:37, 6 August 2018 edit68.39.100.192 (talk) Use Misplaced Pages quoting convention← Previous edit Latest revision as of 21:43, 27 September 2024 edit undoIvanScrooge98 (talk | contribs)Extended confirmed users108,666 edits +respellTags: Mobile edit Mobile web edit Advanced mobile edit 
(49 intermediate revisions by 35 users not shown)
Line 1: Line 1:
{{Short description|Leader of the OpenBSD project (born 1968)}}
{{Infobox person {{Infobox person
| name = Theo de Raadt | name = Theo de Raadt
| image = Theo_de_Raadt_2013.jpg | image = Theo_de_Raadt_2013.jpg
| image_size = 250px | image_size =
| caption = Theo de Raadt in 2013 | caption = De Raadt in 2013
| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1968|5|19}} | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1968|5|19}}
| birth_place = ], ] | birth_place = ], South Africa
| residence = ], ], Canada
| nationality = ] | nationality = ]
| occupation = ] | occupation = ]
Line 13: Line 13:
}} }}


'''Theo de Raadt''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|θ|iː|oʊ|_|d|ɛ|ˈ|r|ɔː|t}}; {{IPA-nl|ˈteː.joː dəˈraːt|lang}}; born May 19, 1968) is a ] who lives in ], ], Canada. He is the founder and leader of the ] and ] projects, and was also a founding member of the ] project. '''Theo de Raadt''' ({{IPAc-en|d|ə|_|ˈ|r|ɔː|t}} {{respell|də|_|RAWT}}, {{IPA|nl|ˈteːjoː də ˈraːt|lang}}; born May 19, 1968) is a South African-born ] who lives in ], Canada. He is the founder and leader of the ] and ] projects and was also a founding member of ]. In 2004, De Raadt won the ] for his work on OpenBSD and OpenSSH.<ref>{{cite web|title=Theo de Raadt presented with the 2004 Free Software Award|url=https://www.fsf.org/news/fsaward2004.html|access-date=11 April 2018}}</ref>

In 2004, De Raadt won the ] for his work on OpenBSD and OpenSSH.<ref>{{cite web|title=Theo de Raadt presented with the 2004 Free Software Award|url=https://www.fsf.org/news/fsaward2004.html|accessdate=11 April 2018}}</ref>


== Early life == == Early life ==
Theo de Raadt is the eldest of four children to a ] father and a ]n mother, with two sisters and a brother. Concern over the mandatory two-year armed forces ] in South Africa led the family to emigrate to Calgary, Alberta, Canada in November 1977. In 1983, the ] since the ] sent the family to the ]. Prior to the move, De Raadt got his first computer, a ], which was soon followed by an ]. It is with these computers that he first began to develop software.<ref>The Age article: . October 8, 2004. Accessed April 5, 2006.</ref> De Raadt is the eldest of four children to a Dutch father and a South African mother, with two sisters and a brother. Concern over the mandatory two-year armed forces ] in South Africa led the family to emigrate to Calgary, Alberta, Canada in November 1977. In 1983, the ] since the ] sent the family to the ]. Prior to the move, De Raadt got his first computer, a ], which was soon followed by an ]. It is with these computers that he first began to develop software.<ref>The Age article: . October 8, 2004. Accessed April 5, 2006.</ref> In 1992, he obtained a ] in ] from the ].

In 1992, he obtained a ] in ] from the ].


== NetBSD == == NetBSD ==
{{Main|NetBSD}} {{Main|NetBSD}}


In 1993, Theo de Raadt founded NetBSD together with Chris Demetriou, Adam Glass, and Charles Hannum, who felt frustrated at the poor quality of ] and believed an open development model would be better. 386BSD was derived from the original University of California Berkeley's 4.3BSD release, while the new NetBSD project would merge relevant code from the Networking/2 and 386BSD releases. In 1993, de Raadt founded NetBSD with Chris Demetriou, Adam Glass, and Charles Hannum, who felt frustrated at the poor quality of ] and believed an open development model would be better. 386BSD was derived from the original University of California Berkeley's 4.3BSD release, while the new NetBSD project would merge relevant code from the Networking/2 and 386BSD releases.


The new project would focus on clean, portable, correct code, with the goal of producing a unified, multi-platform, production-quality BSD operating system. Because of the importance of networks such as the Internet in the distributed, collaborative nature of its development, De Raadt suggested the name "NetBSD", which the three other founders agreed upon.{{Citation needed|date=January 2010}} The new project focused on clean, portable, correct code, with the goal of producing a unified, multi-platform, production-quality BSD operating system.


The first NetBSD source code repository was established on March 21, 1993 and the initial release, NetBSD 0.8, was made in April 1993. This was derived from 386BSD 0.1 plus the version 0.2.2 unofficial patchkit, with several programs from the Net/2 release missing from 386BSD re-integrated, and various other improvements. In August 1993, NetBSD 0.9 was released, which contained many enhancements and bug fixes. This was still a ]-platform-only release, although by this time work was underway to add support for other architectures. The first NetBSD source code repository was established on March 21, 1993 and the initial release, NetBSD 0.8, was made in April 1993. This was derived from 386BSD 0.1 plus the version 0.2.2 unofficial patchkit, with several programs from the Net/2 release missing from 386BSD re-integrated, and various other improvements. In August 1993, NetBSD 0.9 was released, which contained many enhancements and bug fixes. This was still a ]-platform-only release, although by this time work was underway to add support for other architectures.


NetBSD 1.0 was released in October, 1994. This was the first multi-platform release, supporting the ], ] Series 300, ], ] ], ]c series and ]. Also in this release, the legally encumbered Net/2-derived source code was replaced with equivalent code from 4.4BSD-lite, in accordance with the ] lawsuit settlement. De Raadt played a vital role in the creation of the ] port, implementing much of the initial code together with Chuck Cranor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chuck.cranor.org/|title=Chuck Cranor's Home Page|publisher=}}</ref> NetBSD 1.0 was released in October, 1994. This was the first multi-platform release, supporting the ], ] Series 300, ], ] ], ]c series and ]. Also in this release, the legally encumbered Net/2-derived source code was replaced with equivalent code from 4.4BSD-lite, in accordance with the '']'' lawsuit settlement. De Raadt played a vital role in the creation of the ] port, implementing much of the initial code together with Chuck Cranor.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://chuck.cranor.org/|title=Chuck Cranor's Home Page}}</ref>


== OpenBSD == == OpenBSD ==
{{Main|OpenBSD}} {{Main|OpenBSD}}


In December 1994, De Raadt was asked to resign his position as a senior developer and member of the NetBSD core team, and his access to the source code repository was revoked. The reason for this is not wholly clear, although there are claims that it was due to personality clashes within the NetBSD project and on its ].<ref name="glass">Glass, Adam. Message to netbsd-users: '','' December 23, 1994. Visited January 8, 2006.</ref> In December 1994, de Raadt was forced to resign from the NetBSD core team, and his access to the source repository was revoked. Fellow team members claimed it was due to rude and abusive behaviour on the ].<ref name="glass">Glass, Adam. Message to netbsd-users: '','' December 23, 1994. Visited January 8, 2006.</ref>


In his book ''Free for All'', Peter Wayner claims that De Raadt "began to rub some people the wrong way" before the split from NetBSD,<ref>Wayner, Peter. ''Free For All: How Linux and the Free Software Movement Undercut the High Tech Titans,'' {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090719014824/http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/free_for_all.peter_wayner/18.html |date=2009-07-19 }}, 2000. Visited January 6, 2006.</ref> while ] has described him as "difficult".<ref>Forbes. '''' June 16, 2005. Visited January 8, 2006.</ref> Many have different feelings: the same interviewer describes De Raadt's "transformation" on founding OpenBSD and his "desire to take care of his team," some find his straightforwardness refreshing, and few deny he is a talented ]<ref>In the NetBSD core team acknowledge De Raadt's "positive contributions" to the project despite their problems with him.</ref> and security "guru".<ref>Tux Journal. '','' June 2, 2005. Visited April 21, 2006 (original is ]; please see a )</ref> In his book ''Free for All'', Peter Wayner claims that De Raadt "began to rub some people the wrong way" before the split from NetBSD,<ref>Wayner, Peter. ''Free For All: How Linux and the Free Software Movement Undercut the High Tech Titans,'' {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090719014824/http://www.jus.uio.no/sisu/free_for_all.peter_wayner/18.html |date=2009-07-19 }}, 2000. Visited January 6, 2006.</ref> while ] has described him as "difficult".<ref>Forbes. '''' June 16, 2005. Visited January 8, 2006.</ref> Many have different feelings: the same interviewer describes De Raadt's "transformation" on founding OpenBSD and his "desire to take care of his team," some find his straightforwardness refreshing, and de Raadt remains widely respected as a ]<ref>In the NetBSD core team acknowledge De Raadt's "positive contributions" to the project despite their problems with him.</ref> and security expert.<ref>Tux Journal. '','' June 2, 2005. Visited April 21, 2006 (original is ]; please see a )</ref>


In October 1995, De Raadt founded OpenBSD, a new project ] from NetBSD 1.0. The initial ], OpenBSD 1.2, was made in July 1996, followed in October of the same year by OpenBSD 2.0.<ref>Raadt, Theo de. Mail to openbsd-announce: '' {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527220458/http://www.monkey.org/openbsd/archive2/announce/199610/msg00001.html |date=2005-05-27 }},'' October 18, 1996. Visited December 10, 2005.</ref> Since then, the project has followed a schedule of a release every six months, each of which is maintained and supported for one year. In October 1995, de Raadt founded OpenBSD, a new project ] from NetBSD 1.0. The initial ], OpenBSD 1.2, was made in July 1996, followed in October of the same year by OpenBSD 2.0.<ref>Raadt, Theo de. Mail to openbsd-announce: '' {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050527220458/http://www.monkey.org/openbsd/archive2/announce/199610/msg00001.html |date=2005-05-27 }},'' October 18, 1996. Visited December 10, 2005.</ref> Since then, the project has followed a schedule of a release every six months, each of which is maintained and supported for one year.


== Outspokenness == == Outspokenness ==


] presents De Raadt with ] horns at ]]] ] presents De Raadt with ] horns at ]]]
De Raadt has been a vocal advocate of free software since the inception of OpenBSD, but he is also a strong proponent of free speech, having on occasion had rather public disputes with various groups, from Linux advocates to governments. This outspoken attitude, while sometimes the cause of conflict, has also led him to acclaim; De Raadt has given presentations at open source, free software and security conferences around the world—including ] in ], ], ] in ], ], ] Conference in ], ] and ] in ], RS, ]. De Raadt has been a vocal advocate of free software since the inception of OpenBSD, but he has on occasion had rather public disputes with various groups, from Linux advocates to governments. This outspoken attitude, while sometimes the cause of conflict, has also led him to acclaim; De Raadt has given presentations at open source, free software and security conferences around the world—including ] in ], ], ] in ], ], ], ] Conference in ], ] and ] in ], RS, ].


=== DARPA funding cancellation === === DARPA funding cancellation ===


{{BLP sources section|date=August 2022}}
⚫ After De Raadt stated his disapproval of the U.S.-led ] in an April, 2003 ]<ref>Globe and Mail article: . April 6, 2003. Accessed October 30, 2006.</ref> with ]'s '']'', a multi-million-dollar ] grant to the ]'s ] was cancelled, effectively ending the project. Funding from the grant had been used in the development of OpenSSH and OpenBSD, as well as many other projects and was to be used to pay for the '']'' planned for May 8, 2003. Despite money from the grant already having been used to secure accommodations for sixty developers for a week, the money was reclaimed by the government at a loss and the hotel was told not to allow the developers to pay the reclaimed money to resecure the rooms.<ref>LWN.net article: . April 24, 2003. Accessed April 5, 2006.</ref> This resulted in criticism among some that the US military held an anti-] attitude. The grant termination was, however, not as bad a blow as some portrayed it. The project's supporters rallied to help and the hackathon went on almost as planned. The funding was cut mere months before the end of the grant, further fueling the speculations regarding the situation surrounding the grant's termination.

⚫ After De Raadt stated his disapproval of the U.S.-led ] in an April, 2003 ]<ref>Globe and Mail article: . April 6, 2003. Accessed September 5, 2019.</ref> with ]'s '']'', a multi-million-dollar ] grant to the ]'s ] was cancelled, effectively ending the project. Funding from the grant had been used in the development of OpenSSH and OpenBSD, as well as many other projects and was to be used to pay for the ] planned for May 8, 2003. Despite money from the grant already having been used to secure accommodations for sixty developers for a week, the money was reclaimed by the government at a loss and the hotel was told not to allow the developers to pay the reclaimed money to resecure the rooms.<ref>LWN.net article: . April 24, 2003. Accessed April 5, 2006.</ref> This resulted in criticism among some that the US military held an anti-] attitude. The grant termination was, however, not as bad a blow as some portrayed it. The project's supporters rallied to help and the hackathon went on almost as planned. The funding was cut mere months before the end of the grant, further fueling the speculations regarding the situation surrounding the grant's termination.


=== Free driver advocacy === === Free driver advocacy ===
Line 55: Line 53:
De Raadt is also well known for his advocacy of ] ]. He has long been critical of developers of ] and other free platforms for their tolerance of non-free drivers and acceptance of ]s. De Raadt is also well known for his advocacy of ] ]. He has long been critical of developers of ] and other free platforms for their tolerance of non-free drivers and acceptance of ]s.


In particular, De Raadt has worked to convince ] hardware vendors to allow the ] images of their products to be freely redistributed. These efforts have been largely successful, particularly in negotiations with ]ese companies, leading to many new wireless drivers. De Raadt has commented that "most Taiwanese vendors give us documentation almost immediately," allowing open source drivers to reliably support devices, as opposed to the lack of willingness from US companies like ] and ] to release firmware images free from ] restrictions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kerneltrap.org/node/6550 |date=May 2, 2006 |first=Jeremy |last=Andrews |title=Interview: Theo de Raadt |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424125958/http://kerneltrap.org/node/6550 |archivedate=April 24, 2013}}</ref> In particular, De Raadt has worked to convince ] hardware vendors to allow the ] images of their products to be freely redistributed. These efforts have been largely successful, particularly in negotiations with ]ese companies, leading to many new wireless drivers. De Raadt has commented that "most Taiwanese vendors give us documentation almost immediately," allowing open source drivers to reliably support devices, as opposed to the lack of willingness from US companies like ] and ] to release firmware images free from ] restrictions.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://kerneltrap.org/node/6550 |date=May 2, 2006 |first=Jeremy |last=Andrews |title=Interview: Theo de Raadt |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130424125958/http://kerneltrap.org/node/6550 |archive-date=April 24, 2013}}</ref>


=== Clash with Linux developers === ===Clash with Linux developers===
⚫ In April 2007, De Raadt was involved in a controversy involving the use of ] code from the Linux ''bcm43xx'' driver in the BSD ''bcw'' driver.<ref>LXer article: . April 7, 2007. Accessed April 8, 2007.</ref><ref>Thread on gmane.linux.kernel.wireless.general: Various dates beginning April 4, 2007. Accessed April 8, 2007.</ref> Linux developers accused the BSD community of infringing GPL code, but De Raadt denied infringement, arguing that the BSD driver was not "released". He also maintained that the conflict was not about GPL, but the way Linux developer ] handled the situation. To Buesch's email, he responded:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://marc.info/?l=linux-wireless&m=117572345902445&w=2|via=]|title=OpenBSD bcw: Possible GPL license violation issues|date=4 April 2007|access-date=28 May 2017|author=Theo de Raadt}}</ref>

{{blockquote|
⚫ In April 2007, De Raadt was involved in a controversy involving the use of ] code from the Linux ''bcm43xx'' driver in the BSD ''bcw'' driver.<ref>LXer article: . April 7, 2007. Accessed April 8, 2007.</ref><ref>Thread on gmane.linux.kernel.wireless.general: Various dates beginning April 4, 2007. Accessed April 8, 2007.</ref> Linux developers accused the BSD community of infringing GPL code, but De Raadt denied infringement, arguing that the BSD driver was not "released." He also maintained that the conflict was not about GPL, but the way Linux developer ] handled the situation. To Buesch's email, he responded:<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://marc.info/?l=linux-wireless&m=117572345902445&w=2|via=]|title=OpenBSD bcw: Possible GPL license violation issues|date=4 April 2007|accessdate=28 May 2017|author=Theo de Raadt}}</ref>
{{quote|
It will be resolved in our tree, but it is up to him which way he does It will be resolved in our tree, but it is up to him which way he does
it. But when you approach issues like this with comments like "We'd it. But when you approach issues like this with comments like "We'd
Line 78: Line 75:
They will see your widely posted mail as an overly strong position.}} They will see your widely posted mail as an overly strong position.}}


Another clash occurred in August 2007, when a group of Linux developers attempted to modify the license of dual-licensed ath5k driver. De Raadt summarized the issue as follows:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lkml.org/lkml/2007/9/1/102 |first=Theo |last=de Raadt |date=August 31, 2007 |title=That whole "Linux stealing our code" thing |publisher=LKML.org}}</ref> Another clash occurred in August 2007, when a group of Linux developers attempted to modify the license of dual-licensed ath5k driver. De Raadt summarised the issue as follows:<ref>{{cite web|url=https://lkml.org/lkml/2007/9/1/102 |first=Theo |last=de Raadt |date=August 31, 2007 |title=That whole "Linux stealing our code" thing |publisher=LKML.org}}</ref>
{{quote| {{blockquote|
GPL fans said the great problem we would face is that companies would take our BSD code, modify it, and not give back. GPL fans said the great problem we would face is that companies would take our BSD code, modify it, and not give back.
Nope—the great problem we face is that people would wrap the GPL around our code, and lock us out in the same way that these supposed companies would lock us out. Nope—the great problem we face is that people would wrap the GPL around our code, and lock us out in the same way that these supposed companies would lock us out.
Line 86: Line 83:


==References== ==References==
⚫ {{Reflist}}

⚫ {{Reflist|30em}}


==External links== ==External links==
⚫ {{Portal|Free software}}

{{Wikiquote}} {{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Theo de Raadt}} {{Commons category|Theo de Raadt}}
*{{official website}}
*
* at ] * at ]
* at ] * at ]
Line 100: Line 94:


{{OpenBSD}} {{OpenBSD}}
{{Berkeley Software Distribution}}

⚫ {{Portal bar|Free and open-source software}}
{{Authority control}} {{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Raadt, Theo de}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Raadt, Theo de}}
] ]
]
] ]
] ]

Latest revision as of 21:43, 27 September 2024

Leader of the OpenBSD project (born 1968)
Theo de Raadt
De Raadt in 2013
Born (1968-05-19) May 19, 1968 (age 56)
Pretoria, South Africa
NationalityCanadian
Alma materUniversity of Calgary
OccupationSoftware engineer
Known forNetBSD, OpenBSD, OpenSSH

Theo de Raadt (/də ˈrɔːt/ də RAWT, Dutch: [ˈteːjoː də ˈraːt]; born May 19, 1968) is a South African-born software engineer who lives in Calgary, Canada. He is the founder and leader of the OpenBSD and OpenSSH projects and was also a founding member of NetBSD. In 2004, De Raadt won the Free Software Award for his work on OpenBSD and OpenSSH.

Early life

De Raadt is the eldest of four children to a Dutch father and a South African mother, with two sisters and a brother. Concern over the mandatory two-year armed forces conscription in South Africa led the family to emigrate to Calgary, Alberta, Canada in November 1977. In 1983, the largest recession in Canada since the Great Depression sent the family to the Yukon. Prior to the move, De Raadt got his first computer, a VIC-20, which was soon followed by an Amiga. It is with these computers that he first began to develop software. In 1992, he obtained a BSc in Computer Science from the University of Calgary.

NetBSD

Main article: NetBSD

In 1993, de Raadt founded NetBSD with Chris Demetriou, Adam Glass, and Charles Hannum, who felt frustrated at the poor quality of 386BSD and believed an open development model would be better. 386BSD was derived from the original University of California Berkeley's 4.3BSD release, while the new NetBSD project would merge relevant code from the Networking/2 and 386BSD releases.

The new project focused on clean, portable, correct code, with the goal of producing a unified, multi-platform, production-quality BSD operating system.

The first NetBSD source code repository was established on March 21, 1993 and the initial release, NetBSD 0.8, was made in April 1993. This was derived from 386BSD 0.1 plus the version 0.2.2 unofficial patchkit, with several programs from the Net/2 release missing from 386BSD re-integrated, and various other improvements. In August 1993, NetBSD 0.9 was released, which contained many enhancements and bug fixes. This was still a PC-platform-only release, although by this time work was underway to add support for other architectures.

NetBSD 1.0 was released in October, 1994. This was the first multi-platform release, supporting the IBM PC compatible, HP 9000 Series 300, Amiga, 68k Macintosh, Sun-4c series and PC532. Also in this release, the legally encumbered Net/2-derived source code was replaced with equivalent code from 4.4BSD-lite, in accordance with the USL v BSDi lawsuit settlement. De Raadt played a vital role in the creation of the SPARC port, implementing much of the initial code together with Chuck Cranor.

OpenBSD

Main article: OpenBSD

In December 1994, de Raadt was forced to resign from the NetBSD core team, and his access to the source repository was revoked. Fellow team members claimed it was due to rude and abusive behaviour on the mailing lists.

In his book Free for All, Peter Wayner claims that De Raadt "began to rub some people the wrong way" before the split from NetBSD, while Linus Torvalds has described him as "difficult". Many have different feelings: the same interviewer describes De Raadt's "transformation" on founding OpenBSD and his "desire to take care of his team," some find his straightforwardness refreshing, and de Raadt remains widely respected as a hacker and security expert.

In October 1995, de Raadt founded OpenBSD, a new project forked from NetBSD 1.0. The initial release, OpenBSD 1.2, was made in July 1996, followed in October of the same year by OpenBSD 2.0. Since then, the project has followed a schedule of a release every six months, each of which is maintained and supported for one year.

Outspokenness

Jon "maddog" Hall presents De Raadt with daemon horns at FISL8

De Raadt has been a vocal advocate of free software since the inception of OpenBSD, but he has on occasion had rather public disputes with various groups, from Linux advocates to governments. This outspoken attitude, while sometimes the cause of conflict, has also led him to acclaim; De Raadt has given presentations at open source, free software and security conferences around the world—including FOSDEM in Brussels, Belgium, Usenix in San Antonio, Texas, U.S., AUUG Conference in Melbourne, Australia and FISL in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.

DARPA funding cancellation

This section of a biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous.
Find sources: "Theo de Raadt" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

After De Raadt stated his disapproval of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in an April, 2003 interview with Toronto's Globe and Mail, a multi-million-dollar US Department of Defense grant to the University of Pennsylvania's POSSE project was cancelled, effectively ending the project. Funding from the grant had been used in the development of OpenSSH and OpenBSD, as well as many other projects and was to be used to pay for the hackathon planned for May 8, 2003. Despite money from the grant already having been used to secure accommodations for sixty developers for a week, the money was reclaimed by the government at a loss and the hotel was told not to allow the developers to pay the reclaimed money to resecure the rooms. This resulted in criticism among some that the US military held an anti-free speech attitude. The grant termination was, however, not as bad a blow as some portrayed it. The project's supporters rallied to help and the hackathon went on almost as planned. The funding was cut mere months before the end of the grant, further fueling the speculations regarding the situation surrounding the grant's termination.

Free driver advocacy

De Raadt is also well known for his advocacy of free software drivers. He has long been critical of developers of Linux and other free platforms for their tolerance of non-free drivers and acceptance of non-disclosure agreements.

In particular, De Raadt has worked to convince wireless hardware vendors to allow the firmware images of their products to be freely redistributed. These efforts have been largely successful, particularly in negotiations with Taiwanese companies, leading to many new wireless drivers. De Raadt has commented that "most Taiwanese vendors give us documentation almost immediately," allowing open source drivers to reliably support devices, as opposed to the lack of willingness from US companies like Intel and Broadcom to release firmware images free from licensing restrictions.

Clash with Linux developers

In April 2007, De Raadt was involved in a controversy involving the use of GPL code from the Linux bcm43xx driver in the BSD bcw driver. Linux developers accused the BSD community of infringing GPL code, but De Raadt denied infringement, arguing that the BSD driver was not "released". He also maintained that the conflict was not about GPL, but the way Linux developer Michael Buesch handled the situation. To Buesch's email, he responded:

It will be resolved in our tree, but it is up to him which way he does it. But when you approach issues like this with comments like "We'd like you to start contacting us to resolve the issue now" and your first mail is cc'd to a couple hundred people.... in the future, please think more carefully, ok?

Because right now, in that mail, you've pretty much done Broadcom's job for them. You've told the entire BSD community who may want to use a driver for this chip later, that because of a few GPL issues you are willing to use very strong words—published very widely—to disrupt the efforts of one guy who is trying to do things for them. And, you are going to do this using the GPL, even. You did not privately mail that developer. No, you basically went public with it.

That is how about half the user and developer community will see it.

They will see your widely posted mail as an overly strong position.

Another clash occurred in August 2007, when a group of Linux developers attempted to modify the license of dual-licensed ath5k driver. De Raadt summarised the issue as follows:

GPL fans said the great problem we would face is that companies would take our BSD code, modify it, and not give back. Nope—the great problem we face is that people would wrap the GPL around our code, and lock us out in the same way that these supposed companies would lock us out. Just like the Linux community, we have many companies giving us code back, all the time.

But once the code is GPL'd, we cannot get it back.

References

  1. "Theo de Raadt presented with the 2004 Free Software Award". Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  2. The Age article: "Staying on the cutting edge". October 8, 2004. Accessed April 5, 2006.
  3. "Chuck Cranor's Home Page".
  4. Glass, Adam. Message to netbsd-users: Theo De Raadt(sic), December 23, 1994. Visited January 8, 2006.
  5. Wayner, Peter. Free For All: How Linux and the Free Software Movement Undercut the High Tech Titans, 18.3 Flames, Fights, and the Birth of OpenBSD Archived 2009-07-19 at the Wayback Machine, 2000. Visited January 6, 2006.
  6. Forbes. Is Linux For Losers? June 16, 2005. Visited January 8, 2006.
  7. In this message the NetBSD core team acknowledge De Raadt's "positive contributions" to the project despite their problems with him.
  8. Tux Journal. A good morning with: Theo de Raadt, June 2, 2005. Visited April 21, 2006 (original is 404; please see a cached copy on archive.org)
  9. Raadt, Theo de. Mail to openbsd-announce: The OpenBSD 2.0 release Archived 2005-05-27 at the Wayback Machine, October 18, 1996. Visited December 10, 2005.
  10. Globe and Mail article: "U.S. military helps fund Calgary hacker". April 6, 2003. Accessed September 5, 2019.
  11. LWN.net article: "DARPA Cancels OpenBSD Funding". April 24, 2003. Accessed April 5, 2006.
  12. Andrews, Jeremy (May 2, 2006). "Interview: Theo de Raadt". Archived from the original on April 24, 2013.
  13. LXer article: Broadcom Driver Dispute Uglier Than Necessary. April 7, 2007. Accessed April 8, 2007.
  14. Thread on gmane.linux.kernel.wireless.general: OpenBSD bcw: Possible GPL license violation issues Various dates beginning April 4, 2007. Accessed April 8, 2007.
  15. Theo de Raadt (4 April 2007). "OpenBSD bcw: Possible GPL license violation issues". Retrieved 28 May 2017 – via marc.info.
  16. de Raadt, Theo (August 31, 2007). "That whole "Linux stealing our code" thing". LKML.org.

External links

The OpenBSD Project
Operating system
Related projects
People
Organizations
Publications
Berkeley Software Distribution
People
Derivatives
Active
Discontinued
Companies
Other topics
Portal: Categories: