For a few years I distributed NetBSD via Poul-Henning Kamp's CTM software. The integration of cryptographic software into the NetBSD source tree made it impractical to continue distribution from Australia, and as the number of users of the service was dropping I discontinued the service in June 2000.
Date: 18 Jun 2000 00:25:36 -0000
From: giles@nemeton.com.au
To: ctm@nemeton.com.au
Subject: NetBSD CTM distribution ceasing
Hi all,
I am planning to stop my CTM distribution of NetBSD-current source.
My immediate reason for this is the integration of cryptography
software into the main tree. This was done after the recent
relaxation in the USA's export regulations controlling such software.
Unfortuantely, a similar change has not to my knowledge been made
in Australian regulations, and I don't believe that it is legal
for me to re-export this source! (Yes, this is silly.) For anyone
interested I recommend the Electronic Frontiers Australia web site:
http://www.efa.org.au
My alternatives seem to be:
1. exclude the cryptography source from the CTM deltas
This is possible, but as the cryptography source is no longer
all in one place this is not as easy as it might be and the
resulting tree will not build cleanly.
2. ignore the problem and/or hope that my understanding is incorrect
There is precedent; the SSLeay source code was exported from
Australia for many years without apparent problems. I'm not
keen to become a test case, however.
3. stop the distribution
Other factors influencing my tentative decision are:
(a) the subscriber list has been slowly dropping, and is now down
to four
(b) recent postings on the NetBSD mailing lists proposing an
official CTM distribution didn't get any feedback, positive or
negative
(c) in the four years since I established the "experimental"(!)
CTM distribution other mechanisms have been introduced, including
rsync, anonymous CVS, and recently CVSup.
I'm hoping that each of you will be willing to make do with
one of them, even though they are not as easy to get through
a firewall as email.
If anyone is interested (now or later) in setting up a machine
elsewhere in the world to run a CTM distribution on I would be
prepared to help you set it up.
Thoughts and suggestions are welcome. If nothing changes I'll
update my web page and the FTP site in a week or so.
Regards,
Giles
Sun Jun 18 10:23:36 EST 2000