SCO Skunkware, often referred to as simply "Skunkware", is a collection of

open-source Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...

software projects

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a Computing platform, computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) ...

compiled In computing, a compiler is a computer program that Translator (computing), translates computer code written in one programming language (the ''source'' language) into another language (the ''target'' language). The name "compiler" is primarily ...

, and

packaged Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a co ...

for free redistribution on SCO operating environments. SCO Skunkware packaged components exist for SCO Xenix,

SCO UNIX Xinuos OpenServer, previously SCO UNIX and SCO Open Desktop (SCO ODT), is a closed source computer operating system developed by Santa Cruz Operation (SCO), later acquired by SCO Group, and now owned by Xinuos. Early versions of OpenServer we ...

SCO OpenServer Xinuos OpenServer, previously SCO UNIX and SCO Open Desktop (SCO ODT), is a closed source computer operating system developed by Santa Cruz Operation (SCO), later acquired by SCO Group, and now owned by Xinuos. Early versions of OpenServer we ...

6, UnixWare 2,

Caldera OpenLinux Caldera OpenLinux (COL) is a defunct Linux distribution. Caldera originally introduced it in 1997 based on the German LST Power Linux distribution, and then taken over and further developed by Caldera Systems (now SCO Group) since 1998. A suc ...

, Open UNIX 8, and UnixWare 7. SCO Skunkware was an early pioneering effort to bring open source software into the realm of business computing and, as such, provided an important initial impetus to the acceptance and adoption of open source software in the small and medium business market. An extensive SCO Skunkware download area has been maintained since 1993 and SCO Skunkware components were shipped with operating system distributions as far back as 1983 when

Xenix Xenix is a discontinued version of the Unix operating system for various microcomputer platforms, licensed by Microsoft from AT&T Corporation in the late 1970s. The Santa Cruz Operation (SCO) later acquired exclusive rights to the software, and ...

for the IBM XT was released by The

Santa Cruz Operation The Santa Cruz Operation, Inc. (usually known as SCO, pronounced either as individual letters or as a word) was an American software company, based in Santa Cruz, California, that was best known for selling three Unix operating system variants ...

. The annual SCO Forum conference was a venue for the makers and users of SCO Skunkware to meet and discuss its contents and ideas for future additions. Later additional open source distributions for operating platforms such as the

FreeBSD Ports The FreeBSD Ports collection is a package management system for the FreeBSD operating system, providing an easy and consistent way of installing software packages. As of February 2020, there are over 38,487 ports available in the collection. It h ...

collection and the Solaris Freeware repository would lend additional momentum to the adoption of open source in the business community.

Release history

SCO Skunkware has been released frequently on CD-ROM and as a downloadable CD

ISO image An optical disc image (or ISO image, from the ISO 9660 file system used with CD-ROM media) is a disk image that contains everything that would be written to an optical disc, disk sector by disc sector, including the optical disc file system. I ...

. Individual packages are distributed via

FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...

. The Skunkware CD release history is as follows: * 1983 – First SCO Xenix Games Diskette * 1993 – Skunkware (SCO UNIX 3.2) * 1994 – Skunkware 2.0 (OpenDesktop) * 1995 – Skunkware 5 (OpenServer 5) * 1996 – Skunkware 96 (OpenServer 5) * 1997 – Skunkware 97 (OSR5 + UW2) * 1998 – Skunkware 7 (UnixWare 7) * 1998 – Skunkware 98 (OpenServer 5) * 1999 – Skunkware 7.1 (UnixWare 7) * 1999 – Skunkware 99 (OpenServer 5 and UnixWare 7) * 2000 – Skunkware 2000 (OpenServer 5) * 2000 – Skunkware 7.1.1 (UnixWare 7) * 2001 – Skunkware 8.0.0 (Open UNIX 8) * 2001 – SOSS 3.1 (OpenLinux 3.1)Skunkware was temporarily renamed to "Supplemental Open Source Software" after the purchase of the SCO server division by

Caldera International Caldera International, Inc., earlier Caldera Systems, was an American software company that existed from 1998 to 2002 and developed and sold Linux- and Unix-based operating system products. Caldera Systems was created in August 1998 as a spinoff ...

. SOSS is the acronym used for this. * 2002 – Skunkware 8.0.1 (Open UNIX 8) * 2002 – SOSS 3.1.1 (OpenLinux 3.1.1) * 2006 – Skunkware 2006 (OpenServer 6)

Licensing

SCO Skunkware components are licensed under a variety of terms. Most components are licensed under an OSI approved

Open Source license An open-source license is a type of license for computer software and other products that allows the source code, blueprint or design to be used, modified and/or shared under defined terms and conditions. This allows end users and commercial compa ...

. Many are licensed under the terms of either the

GNU General Public License The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a series of widely used free software licenses that guarantee end user In product development, an end user (sometimes end-user) is a person who ultimately uses or is intended to ulti ...

or the GNU Library General Public License. Licenses used by SCO Skunkware components include or are similar to: *

* GNU Library General Public License *

Artistic License Artistic license (alongside more contextually-specific derivative terms such as poetic license, historical license, dramatic license, and narrative license) refers to deviation from fact or form for artistic purposes. It can include the alterat ...

Mozilla Public License The Mozilla Public License (MPL) is a free and open-source weak copyleft license for most Mozilla Foundation software such as Firefox and Thunderbird The MPL license is developed and maintained by Mozilla, which seeks to balance the conce ...

Netscape Public License The Netscape Public License (NPL) is a free software license, the license under which Netscape Communications Corporation originally released Mozilla. Its most notable feature is that it gives the original developer of Mozilla (Netscape, now a s ...

The Open Group The Open Group is a global consortium that seeks to "enable the achievement of business objectives" by developing "open, vendor-neutral technology standards and certifications." It has over 840 member organizations and provides a number of servi ...

Public License * The AST Open Source License * X Consortium License * Berkeley Based Licenses A few of the components are "freeware" with no restrictions on their redistribution. Some components may restrict their use to non-commercial purposes or require a license fee for commercial use (e.g. MBROLA). Some components may be redistributed with special permission from the author(s) as is the case with KISDN.

Packaging formats

SCO Skunkware packages are typically distributed in the native packaging format of the operating system release for which they are intended.

Package management system A package manager or package-management system is a collection of software tools that automates the process of installing, upgrading, configuring, and removing computer programs for a computer in a consistent manner. A package manager deals w ...

s used by SCO Skunkware include the following: * Old SCO Custom installable floppy images (SCO Xenix & UNIX 3.2v4) * New Custom SSO architecture media images (SCO OpenServer 5 and 6) * SysV pkgadd datastreams (UnixWare 2, UnixWare 7, Open UNIX 8) *

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimension ...

(OpenLinux 3, UnixWare 7, OpenServer 5 & 6) * Compressed

tar Tar is a dark brown or black viscosity, viscous liquid of hydrocarbons and free carbon, obtained from a wide variety of organic matter, organic materials through destructive distillation. Tar can be produced from coal, wood, petroleum, or peat. ...

and

cpio cpio is a general file archiver utility and its associated file format. It is primarily installed on Unix-like computer operating systems. The software utility was originally intended as a tape archiving program as part of the Programmer's Work ...

archives (all platforms)

Notes

References

SCO Skunkware website
SCO Forum 1998

SCO Forum 2000

SCO Forum 2002

SCO Forum 2004

SCO Forum 2005

SCO Forum 2006 *

SCO World magazine February 1, 1999

SCO World magazine November 1, 1999 *

at archive.org * * * * * {{Dead link, date=October 2010, bot=H3llBot

External links