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posted by martyb on Saturday March 17 2018, @11:39AM   Printer-friendly
from the information-wants-to-be-free dept.

The US Department of Defense is in the process of releasing all of its custom software under Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) licenses with a deadline of June for getting under way. Most of the barriers so far have been legal and policy ones, not technical.

As part of the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act, the Defense Department has until June to start moving much of its custom-developed software source code to a central repository and begin managing and licensing it via open source methods.

The mandate might prove daunting for an organization in which open source practices are relatively scarce, especially considering that, until recently, there was no established open source playbook for the federal government. That's begun to change, however, with the Office of Management and Budget's code.gov, and its DoD corollary, code.mil, run by the Defense Digital Service (DDS).

The fact that such software is actually under public domain inside the US adds a small twist to the release process.

From Federal News Radio : Amid congressional mandate to open source DoD's software code, Code.mil serves as guidepost.


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  • (Score: 2) by VLM on Saturday March 17 2018, @01:59PM (6 children)

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 17 2018, @01:59PM (#654063)

    Why would the .gov benefit from non-GPL anti-social licenses? I'd think the .gov would be better off monitoring who's redistributing changed code via the GPL.

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  • (Score: 1, Troll) by cocaine overdose on Saturday March 17 2018, @02:11PM (5 children)

    My gut is telling me to call you a faggot, but something else is telling me to restrain myself.

    The GPL would benefit me, and other people looking to utilize tax-funded research and applications software into their businesses. Like memory foam, emergency blankets, and TOR.
    • (Score: 2) by cocaine overdose on Saturday March 17 2018, @02:13PM

      Correction: non-GPL*
    • (Score: 4, Informative) by VLM on Saturday March 17 2018, @03:56PM (3 children)

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Saturday March 17 2018, @03:56PM (#654106)

      So you think the government, or other large institutions, or the individuals in those institutions, always does whatever benefits the general public the most? Thats... quaint. That would be an interesting way to organize large institutions, but the real world don't work that way and never will.

      benefit me

      Yeah, me me me me. Millennial I'm sure. The purpose of the government is to perpetuate and expand the government. Not to help me me me.

      The GPL would benefit me

      The BSD licenses are anti-social because they don't require cooperation with the community. Privatize the gains, socialize the expenses. GPL at least puts some corporate skin in the game, its slightly less anti-social.

      • (Score: 2) by cocaine overdose on Saturday March 17 2018, @10:33PM (2 children)

        I was inflammatory in my original response, I must apologize before we continue.

        I don't believe any large groups do anything for anyone unless they receive some benefit from it. In my case, I was not believing that the US government was going to publish their software not under GPL because it benefited the public, but was hoping that they did because it benefited me and people like me.

        As for the millennial remark, I'll let it slide. I was a dick and I deserve that. But, I'm not American-born, nor am I a millennial, nor am I wrapped up in that ageism. (Though I'm sure you were trying to bait me to remark on how much of a boomer you sound!) I do not care what the purpose of government is, personally. If they help me, that is good, and I hope on it. If they don't, that's fine too. I don't expect anything.

        As for your claims on the BSD licenses being anti-social, I agree with your reasoning.
        • (Score: 2) by VLM on Monday March 19 2018, @02:16PM (1 child)

          by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 19 2018, @02:16PM (#654898)

          remark on how much of a boomer you sound

          Oh he wounds me, touche, a superior hit