alt Hacker NewsUnless it's true that they lost it, I really see no reason why HPE doesn't just release the official IRIX source code. It cannot be worth much at this point.
Maybe there's 3rd party code which SGI/HPE licensed? That's apparently why we can't have Operas Presto.
Replies
throw0101a • yesterday at 3:40 PM
> Maybe there's 3rd party code which SGI/HPE licensed?
IIRC, this was one of the complication of open sourcing Solaris back in the day.
➕ show 1 reply
fredoralive • yesterday at 3:44 PM
An obvious source for 3rd party code is that it’s a real UNIX System V derivative, so the AT&T code would need to be cleared.
Even if there isn't any 3rd party code, the whole process of going through the codebase to confirm there really isn't any 3rd party code, and generally getting the legal department to sign off on it, is a lot of work in itself. My impression is that this kind of "historic source" release typically only happens if somebody sufficiently senior in the company cares enough to actively push it through. The default is that nobody does care that much, and it doesn't happen.
"Do nothing" has essentially zero downside for a big company that happens to have something of niche interest like this in its vaults.