Dispelling BSD License Misconceptions 202
AlanS2002 writes "Groklaw is hosting an article by Brendan Scott which looks at the misconceptions surrounding the BSD license. From the article: 'We observe that there exists a broad misconception that the BSD permits the licensing of BSD code and modifications of BSD code under closed source licenses. In this paper we put forward an argument to the effect that the terms of the BSD require BSD code and modifications to BSD code to be licensed under the terms of the BSD license. We look at some possible consequences and observe that this licensing requirement could have serious impacts on the unwary.'"
What about the MIT license? (Score:4, Insightful)
It's Funny. Laugh. (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not a viral license, no matter how much anyone wants to twist their personal interpretation of it. All in all, it's pretty funny, telling the licensors how they actually intended a different outcome than what they, well, intended.
Re:Good news (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Fascinating (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It's Funny. Laugh. (Score:5, Insightful)
Someone who want all software to be 'open' only in the GPL notion is trying to spread FUD that the truely free BSD license also has the same viral restrictions. Don't buy it, don't spread it. It's FUD.
To the author of this crap 'interpretation': If you want your software under GPL, then write it that way, but don't try to spread crap about the BSD license.
We should all LOL at this conclusion (Score:2, Insightful)
http://linux.slashdot.org/linux/06/12/31/010221.s
And the BSD/MIT licenses are the GPL's nearest competitor according to a poll here at
http://slashdot.org/pollBooth.pl?qid=1364&aid=-1 [slashdot.org]
All this is is twisted lawyers, writing twisted conclusions based on twisted sophistry. It is nonsense.
Yes, Sick of this Shit. (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally I care more about other people being able to benefit from my code than preventing corporations from using it for profit.
The problem comes when a company claims "ownership" of your code and then determines who benefits and under what contitions. That's what happens when you don't worry enough to make things right.
A great example of such a theft is Macsyma [wikipedia.org](tediously detailed article that's nice but misses the point), the grand-daddy of Maple, MathCAD, Mathematica and many other symbolic algebra systems. It was developed, largely at public expense by people who expected the public to be able to have it. Instead, the results were "commercialized" in the 80's. A single copy of the original code [sourceforge.net](much better history, as you would expect from a free software project) survived thanks to the efforts of Bill Schelter [wikipedia.org], a GNU Common Lisp author and one of the first to port GCC to i386. Schelter managed to convince the DOE to let him legally distribute that code ... 20 years after it had been stolen from the public. Since then, development has been speedy and it will not be long before the quality matches or exceeds current commercial packages. The next time you spend a hundred bucks on one of it's commercial derivatives, remember that you might have had a free version a decade ago.
So, before you freely give your life's effort to others, you might consider what they will really do to other people with it and chose an explicit license that suits your real tastes. The GPL is the most common choice made and there's a reason for that. The same old assholes are up to new tricks, like "trusted computing" that are designed to lock everyone but themselves out of the market. In the future, if they have their way, you will not be able to run your code on commercial hardware. Is that the kind of thing you want to support in any way?
Re:Yes, Sick of this Shit. (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe I misunderstood the history of Macsyma, but it sounds like the GPL would never have helped since the original code was not public in the first place.
I believe all government source should be public domain or MIT-licensed for all to use. No particular party should have control of it within the bounds of the government. If a company wants to commercialize it or others want to GPL it, that is fine. Since everyone from companies to individuals pay taxes for its development, everyone should have full access to develop and use it in any way.
Re:We should all LOL at this conclusion (Score:2, Insightful)
You could equally say that by making the BSD sound GPL like, it's an attempt to show people that the BSD license is just as good as the GPL at protecting the rights of the people receiving the software.
*sigh* (Score:4, Insightful)
(1) Permit people to do whatever they want with the software--including relicensing the software, so long as
(2) if you use my software, you don't then plaster my name all over it as if I endorce whatever cause or crappy software you're creating, and
(3) you don't sue my ass if and when the software you downloaded from me breaks.
Basically, do what you want--just leave me out of it.
In one sense the article is correct: in imposing a new license you cannot remove the old one. But as the intent of the old license is to cover my ass and keep my name around so people know what sort of a cool dude I am, so long as the new license also covers my ass and keeps my name around so people know what sort of a cool dude I am, I don't see the problem--either from a common-sense perspective or from a legal one.
Fundamental error (Score:3, Insightful)
Let's take a look:
So long as you include the disclaimer as required, and you don't use the author's name in vain, you can do as you like.There is no part of the license that says that you cannot distribute modified forms under more restrictive licensing, provided that you also perform the acts required by the BSD license and require the same of any sub-licensees that distribute. There is no part of the license that says that you cannot distirbute UNmodified forms under more restrictive licensing, but presumably anyone receiving a copy from you under more restrictive licensing could figure out that you obtained it from a source that merely required adherence to the BSD license, throw away the copy you provided and get their own.
In general, acts that are not specified as prohibited in a contract (in this case the license is a contractural term. You are agreeing to abide by the license in return for being provided value in the form of the code covered by the license) are permitted (modulo exceptions that aren't worthy of mention here). Since sublicensing is not mentioned, it is permitted - provided the original conditions are always met by anyone redistributing and/or using the code.
Re:Only in Australia! (see article for details) (Score:3, Insightful)
But redistribution of unrelated source code is also a distribution of source code. Why stop at applying the license to source code written explicitly to extend the licensed code? You could extend it to source code written by anyone using the licensed code, whether their new code interacts with the licensed code or not. In fact, if you interpret the license literally, you could extend the license to any and all source code everywhere - even if the author never agreed to the license. It doesn't say "any distribution of THIS source code", it says "any distribution of source code". That could mean any source code by anyone, anywhere in the world! This license actually out-virals the GPL, by requiring everyone everywhere to release all of their code under the BSD license... even if they don't know it!
Of course, it would be patently absurd to suggest that the license applies in this way, yet this is precisely the sort of argument the author uses. The ambiguity of the phrase "any distribution of source code" is the focal point of his premise, but it's clear to anyone with half a brain that the license applies only to redistribution of the code that already contains it. The argument is nothing more than an exercise in mental masturbation.
Re:It's Funny. Laugh. (Score:2, Insightful)
True, but the BSD license goes further than the disclaimer and attribution: "Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.". That's the viral bit. Viral has nothing to do with giving back to the community, it is simply a question of whether the license can be removed by someone that modifies the code. BSD can't be. End of story. The interesting question here is what the implications are IF the code does find its way into "the community". What effect does that have on any copyright claims?
don't be confused (Score:4, Insightful)
If you take and modify a piece of GPLed code (that you did not write in the first place), and you wish to distribute or sell the resulting source and/or binaries, you are required under the GPL to basically licence your additions under the same terms, including making your modifications available in source form. The only way around the requirement is if you contact all the authors that created the original work and get permission from all of them to operate on the source under a different license (that is, for the original authors to re-issue the same source to you under a different license). This is nearly impossible for very large GPLed projects but, of course, very easy for small projects since there are only a handful of original authors. Some projects require that submissions sign over their rights to the project to give the project the ability to change the license it is distributed under (I believe the GCC project does this, for example, and MySQL forked off a proprietary dist using the same method). Baring this permission you can only modify the code under the terms of the license.
If you take and modify a piece of BSD code you are NOT required under the BSD licence to put your additions under the same terms. You can do whatever you want with your derived work, including selling it without disclosing your modifications. All the BSD license does is prevent you from removing the BSD copyright and licensing lines from the source code, and requires you to identify in documentation that your code was derived from BSD. In particular, this means that you can add whatever conditions you like to the combined (derivative) work, as long as they are not contrary to the original BSD license. That is, you cannot remove the requirement that your documentation contain a copy of the BSD copyright notice and licence. But it certainly does not in any way require that that be the ONLY copyright notice and license pertaining to the derived work.
Any third party is welcome to take the original BSD code and do whatever they want to it under only the terms of the BSD license. But if they want to take your modified work they have to adhere to both the BSD license and your own.
Only an idiot would think otherwise. I swear, where these people get their ideas is beyond me.
It's that simple. Think of the BSD license simply as published pure science... that is the closest parallel to its intent.
-Matt
Re:He's half right (Score:3, Insightful)
Condition number 1 says redistribution of the source code must retain the license (copyright, conditions, disclaimer). Condition number 2 says that redistribution of binaries must be accompanied by the license.
You may of course, rudely wrap the BSD license inside of the GPL. Examples would be distributing a package under the GPL even though the software inside it was BSD. You cannot restrict the user from redistributing the package contents under the terms BSD license, so attempting to place GPL restrictions on the package would be rather pointless. But I've seen people try.
Re:Arcane (Score:3, Insightful)
There are different styles, so consult your lawyer. One good example is Apple iTunes which has a file called, "Acknowledgements.rtf", in its main directory which contains the following:
This is then followed by the text of the OpenSSL license, which is a BSD-type license. The OpenSSL license contains the following text:
So the attribution file contains a license that contains an attribution. Apparently this is enough for both Apple and OpenSSL to legally license their software under their own licenses while including the work of others. Maybe this is enough for your company too, consult your friendly neighborhood IP lawyer for details...
Re:Relicensing doesn't matter! (Score:2, Insightful)
This seems like FUD to me, not something I would expect from Groklaw.
Oh come on, this is Groklaw - where any company other than IBM and any license other than the GPL are evil. PJ has done some useful work uncovering the dishonesty of SCO in their dispute with IBM, but whenever she or her contributors comments on other issues they totally balls it up. Rather than asking for an explanation of the BSD license from a FreeBSD, NetBSD or OpenBSD developer, perhaps even from the license authors at the University of California, Groklaw come up with this crap. Quite frankly, I'll be glad when the SCO-IBM case is over and Groklaw becomes an irrelevance.