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Sorry for the delay in responding .. this discussion has taken on a life on its own and I have gotten behind. :( On Sun, 18 Jan 1998, Robert J. Brown wrote: > I am even sometimes able to get my clients to release certain sections > of the code that I write so that others may benefit. These sections > usually have nothing in particular to do with the product they are > making, but are of a general nature. We have done the same thing. RTEMS has grown enormously because of this type of feedback. We and others have contributed to RTEMS because features/changes/etc to RTEMS are of benefit to the RTEMS project without being too specific. But I know of a few RTEMS systems where the "powers that be" above the developers make it difficult to get generally useful code release publicly. While some of this protectionist attitude is a bit paranoid, Some of the concerns are very legitimate. For example, on the commercial side, I know of a building control system where the developers have legitimate concerns about someone gaining enough knowledge of their system to do something malicious. There are also RTEMS based weapon systems where public release of the source would constitute a security threat. But in both of those cases, the developers have been careful to separate application specific code/knowledge from general purpose reusable code. The reusable parts have been graciously submitted. I guess my point is that it is not always a good thing to release source code for an embedded system. There are issues which have nothing to do with "profit" and "protecting proprietary IP". > This brings up an interesting point. Joel, is RTEMS ready for an > article, perhaps in DDJ or Embedded Systems Programming? This would > be a good way to publicize tha availability, and could likely drum up > some consulting contracts for yu as well. Now would be a great time for such an article in a general venue like Dr. Dobbs or ESP. --joel Joel Sherrill Director of Research & Development joel@OARcorp.com On-Line Applications Research Ask me about RTEMS: a free RTOS Huntsville AL 35805 Support Available (205) 722-9985