SkyOS Forum

Yes that is correct...

We have not fully decided how this is going to be handled yet, however if anyone wishes to access the source code for any of the GPL'ed software that has been ported then they can send a request to us.

This approach is perfectly valid in the GPL.

Because of the GPL, the sources or changes of the ported applications should be made available to the public. Since SkyOS is not actually released yet, you will not find them yet, but they should be available on request.
As this only concerns the applications, there is no obligation to open the source of SkyOS itself. (just like windows is not open source, while running OSS)

edit: this would be different if the kernel contained GPL code, which not the case.

It's weird how people keep putting words in my mouth. I never suggested that there was an obligation for the kernel to be OSS... I never said anything about the kernel in relation to FOSS.

Btw, thanks for the clarification Chris.

I never put those words in your mouth, I was just making that clear from the beginning because some people tend to think skyos should be open source since it "appears to be running linux software". Especially slashdot people.

But I'm glad we could convince you that SkyOS is an interesting operating system.

Yeah, it looks really nice from the screenshots. How easy is it to port software? It looks like you have GTK apps and some others running nicely.

It really depends on the complexity of the software. For instance, it's pretty easy to port LAME (the mp3 encoder) or some other command line tool, but porting a GTK app is quite difficult. And besides, the GTK port is old and buggy. If SkyOS is going to continue to have these GTK ported, we need a new GTK port.