this post was submitted on 12 Feb 2024
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Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).
Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.
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Me too. My biggest takeaway though was that 'SSH' is a company today, providing network and security services. Interesting!
It was a company almost from the start. In the mid 90s Tatu Ylonen created ssh v1 and released it as freeware, then shortly afterwards apparently he regretted it and created ssh v2, made it proprietary and commercialized it with his company.
In the late 90s some OpenBSD guys then forked the unencumbered ssh v1 source to create OpenSSH and implemented ssh v2 with it and their ssh version eventually gained traction and became dominant.
Even more interesting! Thanks!!
Tatu was also a bit of a d*ck about the thing. There were some GPL violations when he made the licensing more restrictive, and at one point he accused the OpenSSH project of violating his trademark, even though his original license permitted the use of the ssh name.
As freeware or free software? Because if it was freeware, I don't understand how OpenBSD could have forked it
It was a custom license more permissive than the BSD license.
It's still part of the official OpenSSH license, see the first section here: https://cvsweb.openbsd.org/src/usr.bin/ssh/LICENCE?rev=HEAD
They're in a lot of government networks world wide (I visited them a long time ago to discuss some potential cooperation) - they're technically quite sound, and as bonus them being privately owned and headquartered in small Finland is generally seen as reducing the likelihood of backdoors or similar issues due to conflicting state interests.