Consequences of the AmigaOS 3.1 source code "leak", one year after?

[wawrzon]

as a contributor to aros, however minor my input is i steer clear of such illegal sorces leaks. thats a very honest answer on my part.

[wawrzon]

I don't believe that this would be the easier option, even in the long run.

The "threshold" when backporting code from AmigaOS4 to AmigaOS 3.x could still be accomplished with reasonable effort (time and manpower) was crossed in about 8-9 years ago. Ever since then new data structures and APIs have been added to AmigaOS4 which significantly increase the difficulties of backporting code.

This happened at Commodore, too, when Kickstart/Workbench 2.x was under development. The toolbox became larger (double the ROM space, double the leverage afforded to software developers), and it became more and more difficult for Commodore to provide the same tools to developers who wanted to use them both in 1.x and 2.x applications.

There weren't many such tools (I remember "amigaguide.library" and the Installer), and there were some 3rd party solutions such as a disk-loaded "gadtools.library". But inside the operating system, the new APIs and data structures created more tightly-coupled code, saving ROM space and allowing for more robust code to be written.

Backporting such code at some point means porting practically everything, because you cannot always conveniently resolve the new interdependencies. Even if you tried, you'd run into practical problems for a hypothetical AmigaOS4 for 68k: AmigaOS4 is designed for a platform with much more RAM. As these things go (Moore's law, etc.) it also requires a more powerful CPU to run smoothly than a 68k platform could deliver (unless you consider emulation a target platform that makes good business sense). Finally, that complex port would have to be tested as well, which is no small challenge to begin with.

in one sentence: os4 as a whole has become incompatible with amiga. which is actually the case for what i know. there is apparently less hassle to backport a good deal of aros software to genuine amiga system, not only because it guards the original concepts, it actually runs on 68k, because things like necessary functions are still register parametrized, library interface is interchangeable, hook syntax is apparently the same like the original one and last but not least aros has in comparison to the features it offers a reasonable memory footprint, comparable to original kickstarts.

what an irony..

[wawrzon]

okay, so since the situation is completely unclear and none has proven their rights to whatever part of it with enough certanity, then its simply public domain and everybody can mess with it at will. fine with me, please proceed. simply dont take all these court cases apart yet again, it is sooo boring to witness..