It’s permissively-licensed (as opposed to bash, which is GPLv3). Pushing zsh over bash is part of a larger effort by corporations to marginalize copyleft so they can more easily exploit Free Software at the users’ expense. Don’t fall for it!
It’s such a shame that, if zsh gains enough critical mass, all copies of its source code will be deleted from the universe and no-one will be able to use it without paying any more.
It’s such a shame that you can’t customize the version of zsh running on your Linux-based embedded device because it’s DRM’d to prevent the modified version from being installed.
…oh wait, that’s not sarcasm because it’s actually plausible.
A plausible path is precedent and normalization, not zsh specifically.
If a widely used copyleft component (like a shell) starts being accepted as “OK to lock down” in consumer or embedded devices, manufacturers and courts get comfortable with the idea that user-modifiable software is optional rather than a right tied to distribution. Over time, that erodes enforcement of anti-tivoization principles and weakens the practical force of copyleft licenses across the stack.
Once that norm shifts, vendors can apply the same logic to kernels, drivers, bootloaders, and userland as a whole—at which point locked-down embedded devices stop being the exception and become the default, even when the software is nominally open source.
I don’t understand. It’s already ok to “lock down” devices, from the point of view of most consumers and the courts, regardless of the software license. Phones make it hard for you to flash new firmware onto them. That is still true with android and the open source components in its stack.
Using bsd licensed software in every day life cannot accelerate that because it has already happened, and I don’t see how it would be otherwise, because software licensing doesn’t protect against the kind of locking down you’re talking about.
It’s called tivoization and started with a device called “Tivo” which was the first of its kind to attempt this procedure.
There are probably lots of hardware devices in your house that use GPL software but prevent you from actually modifying it because the hardware will refuse to run modified copies. If a piece of software is licensed GPLv3, it would violate the license terms to do something like this.
Am I out of the loop? what’s wrong with zsh?
Classic linux tribalism. Use what you like and don’t get involved with these confrontational nerds.
I mean, there’s some things that became validly toxic due to their developers, example off the top of my head: Reiserfs
Are you referring to the creator of Reiserfs killing his wife and burying her in a shallow grave near their home?
What else could I possibly be referring to?
True, software can call you a slur.
It can when I write it.
Or kill your mail order Russian wife.
wat?
Or tinfoil . https://www.reddit.com/r/SwitchPirates/comments/12tz1lj/comment/jh4x9ck/
Inserts joke about it being weird that it happened twice
There doesn’t have to be tribalism, people just need to accept that systemd is a botnet
It’s permissively-licensed (as opposed to bash, which is GPLv3). Pushing zsh over bash is part of a larger effort by corporations to marginalize copyleft so they can more easily exploit Free Software at the users’ expense. Don’t fall for it!
But bash doesn’t have p10k. Sorry not sorry.
Come one, free software aside bash UX is terrible. Not everything is a conspiracy.
fish, the main modern alternative to zsh + oh-my-zsh, is mostly GPLv2, and you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU GPL as published by the Free Software Foundation.
It’s such a shame that, if zsh gains enough critical mass, all copies of its source code will be deleted from the universe and no-one will be able to use it without paying any more.
It’s such a shame that you can’t customize the version of zsh running on your Linux-based embedded device because it’s DRM’d to prevent the modified version from being installed.
…oh wait, that’s not sarcasm because it’s actually plausible.
Cool.
And what, exactly, is the path from “pushing back on zsh” to “embedded device manufacturers can no longer lock down their devices?”
A plausible path is precedent and normalization, not zsh specifically.
If a widely used copyleft component (like a shell) starts being accepted as “OK to lock down” in consumer or embedded devices, manufacturers and courts get comfortable with the idea that user-modifiable software is optional rather than a right tied to distribution. Over time, that erodes enforcement of anti-tivoization principles and weakens the practical force of copyleft licenses across the stack.
Once that norm shifts, vendors can apply the same logic to kernels, drivers, bootloaders, and userland as a whole—at which point locked-down embedded devices stop being the exception and become the default, even when the software is nominally open source.
I don’t understand. It’s already ok to “lock down” devices, from the point of view of most consumers and the courts, regardless of the software license. Phones make it hard for you to flash new firmware onto them. That is still true with android and the open source components in its stack.
Using bsd licensed software in every day life cannot accelerate that because it has already happened, and I don’t see how it would be otherwise, because software licensing doesn’t protect against the kind of locking down you’re talking about.
“The single raindrop never feels responsible for the flood.” - Douglas Adams
Yes, very deep, but what I just said is not “it’s insignificant” but “that’s not what software licensing does”.
Shit I didn’t know this was a problem. What devices are these? I’m assuming we’ve got a few in every home?
It’s called tivoization and started with a device called “Tivo” which was the first of its kind to attempt this procedure.
There are probably lots of hardware devices in your house that use GPL software but prevent you from actually modifying it because the hardware will refuse to run modified copies. If a piece of software is licensed GPLv3, it would violate the license terms to do something like this.
Yes but we’re talking about zsh. I know zsh wasn’t on TiVo.
Same as systemd, PipeWire, Wayland, Flatpak… basically, it’s new therefore it is bad.
It’s stinky and smelly and smells bad.
It’s better.
Foss traditionalism im guessing.
Unrelated to the topic: How did you make your username red?
I didn’t, depending on your client it might be how it signifies instance admins
Thx.
RMS doesn’t approve
They asked what’s wrong
It makes people vomit.