The CUPS Printing System Lead Developer Has Left Apple, Begins Developing "LPrint"

[phoronix]

Phoronix: The CUPS Printing System Lead Developer Has Left Apple, Begins Developing "LPrint"

More than a decade after Apple acquired the CUPS source-code and its lead developer, that developer, Michael Sweet, recently parted ways with Apple...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=CUPS-Lead-Developer-Leaves-APPL

[tildearrow]

And where is PPrint? I want to print pages, not labels :<

[SpyroRyder]

And where is PPrint? I want to print pages, not labels :<

CUPS 2.2 still exists and still works for now. You could always make some new GPLd printing software, you could probsbly even sell Redhat on the idea to lessen apples grip on that segment of the OS infrastucture

[guildem]

I'm sorry for the dumb question, but : why is Apache license a concern ? I thought this was a great open-source license, with freedom to use, modify and redistribute under the same license terms (no code stealing complain like BSD). So why it is "worse" than GPL ?

[CommunityMember]

I'm sorry for the dumb question, but : why is Apache license a concern ?

Open source licenses are like religions, and some are willing to fight wars over their chosen religion because they are convinced of the righteousness of their beliefs. What is somehow missing is that one should be free to choose their own path, and tolerate others choices even if it was not the one you might choose.

[grigi]

I think it is more about internal politics than licensing.
Any place that forces me to change the license of my code or make my life miserable will eventually chase me away. Regardless of what I chose to do.

[artivision]

Open source licenses are like religions, and some are willing to fight wars over their chosen religion because they are convinced of the righteousness of their beliefs. What is somehow missing is that one should be free to choose their own path, and tolerate others choices even if it was not the one you might choose.

No. There are just some people who don't like you to exploit their work for free, without giving anything back =GPL. Although they will not use any means to stop you from be inspired by them and write your own code.

[King InuYasha]

I'm sorry for the dumb question, but : why is Apache license a concern ? I thought this was a great open-source license, with freedom to use, modify and redistribute under the same license terms (no code stealing complain like BSD). So why it is "worse" than GPL ?

The Apache Software License does not mandate redistribution of modifications under the same terms as the GPL does. Moreover, until very recently, CUPS 2.3 lacked an exception to allow compatibility between copyleft licenses that didn't include patent grants but restricted against adding further requirements (GPLv2/LGPLv2 mainly).

Today, it isn't really a problem unless you consider Apple is probably making fixes to CUPS that they won't release in the FOSS codebase because they don't have to. But they've always had that ability as the copyright holder, so... 🤷♂️

[jabl]

I'm quite sure Mr Sweet didn't leave Apple due to the relicensing of CUPS from (L)GPL to Apache. His new "LPrint" is released under the, drumroll, Apache license after all.

[jacob]

And where is PPrint? I want to print pages, not labels :<

For printing pages there will always be CUPS. It is not going anywhere.