Sun has made the source code to its Solaris Unix operating system more widely available. (Just as we describedback in January.)

But if you'd previously got the impression that Sun was "open sourcing" Solaris in some way, you'd be wide of the mark. Sun says the Solaris 8 Foundation Source Program is for "Research Use" only, which encompasses "research, reference, evaluation, development, educational or personal use, excluding use or distribution for direct or indirect commercial (including strategic) gain or advantage."

Licensees cannot make copies of the source, or distribute source or binaries built from the source to others, according to the accompanying FAQ. This is substantially different to the Java Community License.

"You may not share Covered Code with any non-Licensee. You agree to treat the Reference Code as confidential information of the Original Contributor. Reference Code will not be provided by You to any third party. You will establish appropriate procedures to prevent the disclosure of such Reference Code," warns the licence.

The full distribution is a 183Mb download, if you don't need the development environment. The CDs will be available in a couple of weeks for a $75 fee. An ideal stocking filler... ®

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