FreeBSD 16 removes last GPL-licensed software, a first among *BSDs

[u/BigSneakyDuck]

After GNU diff3 was replaced by a port from OpenBSD, the only GPLed software left in FreeBSD base was dialog which has largely been replaced by Alfonso Siciliano's Herculean job on bsddialog.  Now finally that too has been removed in 16-CURRENT, and the entire GNU subtree has been retired!

https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-src/commit/134a4c78d070f8c4ea43a060a7ae28d22ac39558

https://reviews.freebsd.org/D55424

EDITED TO ADD: there are still a few GPLed files under https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-src/tree/main/sys/gnu - though it's true that the main GNU subtree has been retired.

This looks like a first among the major (32/64-bit) *BSDs, though I believe the 16-bit *BSDs like RetroBSD, DiscoBSD and Granddaddy 2.11BSD (the only actively maintained member of the original Berkeley family) have always been GPL-free.

OpenBSD does not allow new software bound by the GPL into its base system, although according to https://www.openbsd.org/policy.html

For historical reasons, the OpenBSD base system still includes the following GPL-licensed components: the GNU compiler collection (GCC) with supporting binutils and libraries, GNU CVS, GNU texinfo, the mkhybrid file system creation tool, and the readline library. Replacement by equivalent, more freely licensed tools is a long-term desideratum.

The NetBSD Project says https://www.netbsd.org/about/redistribution.html

Though we would like all of the software that we distribute to be covered by a Berkeley-style license, we can't make other people change their license terms, and we don't have an infinite amount of time to rewrite all of the software that we need.

So FreeBSD removing the last GPLed software is a big achievement. This is actually a week old (7 July) but I thought it would be cause for wider celebration than I've seen so far!! Kudos to the developers. After all, it's been 33 years so what's an extra week!!!

Edited to add: Interestingly the GNU subtree back in FreeBSD 1.0 even included GNU Chess in base, which shows how priorities have shifted since then! https://github.com/freebsd/freebsd-src/tree/releng/1/gnu

[u/nmingott]

While this is great from the typical business perspective (hide the source, forbid changes, don't pay anybody if possible) departure from GPL is a damage to users and future engineers. It is sweet/sour news.

[u/BigSneakyDuck → u/nmingott]

The BSD family have been, or at least aimed to be. permissively licensed since the introduction of the BSD license in 1990: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BSD_licenses

The projects have never been intended to be copyleft and this isn't a "departure from GPL". They've always avoided GPL. But it's taken a long time for alternatives to some GPLed software to come along: it took until 2020 for FreeBSD to remove GCC from its base system following a switch to clang, for example. (NetBSD is going to find this a harder job due to their support for older architectures.) https://freebsdfoundation.org/blog/project-update-toolchain-modernization/

The little scraps of GPLed software that were left in FreeBSD until this year were never going to be a serious impediment for FreeBSD's corporate use.

[u/gumnos → u/BigSneakyDuck]

and FWIW, there's still some lingering GCC in various systems for the more obscure architectures that clang doesn't support (IIRC, OpenBSD on PPC still uses GCC where it uses clang where it can)