www/policy.html - diff

Return to policy.html CVS log

Up to [local] / www

Diff for /www/policy.html between version 1.2 and 1.3

version 1.2, 1997/06/13 11:52:20

version 1.3, 1997/06/14 10:48:14

Line 17

<h1>OpenBSD Copyright Policy</h1>

maintain the spirit of the original Berkeley Unix copyrights.

maintain the spirit of the original Berkeley unix copyrights.

OpenBSD can exist as it does today because of the example set by the

Computer Systems Research Group at Berkeley and the battles which they

and others fought to create a relatively un-encumbered unix source

distribution.

The ability of a freely redistributable "Berkeley" unix

to move forward on a competitive basis with other operating systems depends

on the willingness of the various development groups to exchange code amongst

themselves and with other projects.

Understanding the the legal issues surrounding copyright is fundamental to

the ability to exchange and re-distribute code, while honoring the spirit of

the copyright and concept of attribution is fundamental to promoting the

cooperation of the people involved.

<h3>The Berkeley Copyright</h3>

The Berkeley copyright poses no restrictions on private or commercial

use of the software and imposes only simple and uniform requirements

for maintaining copyright notices in redistributed versions and

Line 27

Line 45

advertising.

While this means that OpenBSD is has the same broad applicability as

Because the OpenBSD copyright imposes no conditions beyond those

the material it was derived from, it also follows that OpenBSD can not

imposed by the Berkeley copyright, OpenBSD can hope to share the same

include some material which includes more restrictive copyrights, or

wide distribution and applicability as the Berkeley distributions.

must limit it's scope - for example GPL style copyrights are not

It follows however, that OpenBSD can not include material which

acceptable for inclusion in the kernel or what would constitute a

includes copyrights which are more restrictive than the Berkeley

"binary release" of OpenBSD.

i.e. OpenBSD as a whole is freely redistributable, but some optional

components may not be.

<h3>Copyright Law</h3>

While the overall subject of copyright law is far beyond the scope of

this document, some basics are in order. Under the current copyright law,

copyrights are implicit in the creation of a new work and reside with

Line 60

Line 81

It is vitally important to understand that copyrights are broad protections

as defined by national and international copyright law, not assertions of

as defined by national and international copyright law. The "copyright

the copyright holder as to what might or might be copyrighted, nor the

notices" usually included in source files are not copyrights, but rather

conditions for use imposed by the copyright holder.

notices that a party asserts that they hold copyright to the material or

to part of the material. Typically these notices are associcated with

license terms which grant permissions subject to copyright law and with

disclaimers that state the position of the copyright holder/distributor

with respect to liability surrounding use of the material.

<h3>Permissions - the flip side</h3>

Because copyrights arise from the creation of a work, rather than through

a registration process, there needs to be a practical way to allow uses

a registration process, there needs to be a practical way to extend

permission to use a work beyond that which might be allowed by "fair use"

provisions of the copyright laws.

This permission typically takes the form of a "release" or "license"

included in the work, which grants the additional uses beyond those

granted by copyright law, usually subject to a variety of conditions.

At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator

At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator asserts that

asserts that he imposes no restrictions on any use of the material, at

he imposes no restrictions on use of the material, at the other

the other highly restrictive releases that actually grant no additional

restrictive clauses that actually grant no additional rights or impose

rights or impose restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on

restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on use of the work.

use of the work.

Again, the important points to note are that the release and conditions can

Again, an important point to note is that the release and conditions can

only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright

holder - the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither

grant additional permissions for the original work, nor impose more restrictive

grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more

conditions for that work.

restrictive conditions for use of that work.

When a party asserting copyright rights removes prior copyright notices

Because copyright arises from the creation of a work and not the text

or releases from a work, or attempts to impose permissions or conditions

or a registration process, removing or altering a copyright notice or

that are in conflict with the permissions or conditions imposed by the

associated release terms has no bearing on the existance of the copyright,

originator of the work, these conditions are not binding on the original

rather all that is accomplished to whatever rights the person making the

work. In fact, if their permissions or conditions are contrary to those

modifications had to use the material in the first place. Likewise, adding

asserted by the copyright holder of the original work, that party is

terms and conditions in conflict with the original terms and conditions

probably setting up a situation where they no longer have permission to

does not supercede them, rather it casts doubts on the rights of the person

use the work at all, let along impose conditions on its use.

making the amendments to use the material and creates confusion as to

whether anyone can use amended version or derivitives thereof.

Finally, releases are generally binding on the material that they

Line 119

Line 144

The Berkeley copyright is the model for the OpenBSD copyright. It retains

the rights of the copyright holder, while imposing minimal conditions on

the use of the copyrighted material. Material with Berkeley copyrights,

or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be included

or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be

in OpenBSD.

included in OpenBSD.

While AT&T holds the copyrights to much "unix" code and documentation,

Line 130

Line 155

to the Berkeley terms. No material subject to restrictive AT&T

copyrights can be included in OpenBSD.

Examples of AT&T code, included subject to non-restrictive copyrights,

include some system sources such as init_main.c and the AT&T version

of awk.

<dt>DEC, Sun, other manufacturers/software houses.<dd>

In general OpenBSD does not include material copyrighted by manufacturers

or software houses. Material may be included where the copyright owner has

Line 146

Line 176

are still subject to AT&T copyrights, which prevents the general

distribution of Mach sources.

<dt>GNU General Public License, GPL, copyleft, etc.<dd>

<dt>GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc.<dd>

The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction

that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that

are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code. While this may be a noble

are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code.

goal in terms of software sharing, it is a condition that is typically

unacceptable for commercial use of software. As a consequence, software

bound by the GPL terms can not be included in the kernel or "runtime" of

of OpenBSD, though GPL tools may be included as development tools or as

part of the system at are "optional" and where there is no adequate substitute.

While this may be a noble strategy in terms of software sharing, it is a

condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software.

As a consequence, software bound by the GPL terms can not be included in

the kernel or "runtime" of of OpenBSD, though software subject to GPL terms

may be included as development tools or as part of the system at are

"optional" as long as such use does not result in OpenBSD as a whole

becoming subject to the GPL terms.

As an example, some ports include GNU Floating Point Emulation - this is

optional and the system can be built without it or with an alternative

emulation package. Another example is the use GCC and other GNU tools in

the OpenBSD tool chain - it is quite possible to distribute a system for

many applications without a tool chain, or the distributor can choose to

include a tool chain as optional bundle which conforms to the GPL terms.

<dt>NetBSD<dd>

Much of OpenBSD is largely based on NetBSD, since some of the OpenBSD

Much of OpenBSD is orignally based on and evolveed from NetBSD, since some

developers were involved in the NetBSD project and the general NetBSD

of the OpenBSD developers were involved in the NetBSD project. The general

license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit such

NetBSD license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit

use. Since that time, individuals associated with the NetBSD project

such use. Material subject only to the general NetBSD

or the "NetBSD Foundation" have inserted stricter conditions in the

license can generally be included in OpenBSD.

copyrights of parts of the NetBSD software. Regardless of the

legality/propriety of these actions, material including such restrictive

conditions or derived from that material subsequent to imposition of

these restrictions can not be included in OpenBSD.

The current NetBSD distribution also includes material copyrighted by

individuals who have imposed license conditions beyond that of the

general NetBSD license, but granted the NetBSD Foundation license to

distribute the material. Such material can not be included in OpenBSD

as long as the conditions imposed are at odds with the OpenBSD license

terms or releases from those terms are offered on a disciminatory basis.

<dt>FreeBSD<dd>

Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or include

Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or includes

included in OpenBSD, while parts that are subject to GPL or various

included in OpenBSD, while those parts that are subject to GPL or

individual copyright terms can not be include in OpenBSD.

various individual copyright terms that are at odds with the OpenBSD license

can not be included in OpenBSD.

<dt>Linux<dd>

Most of Linux is subject to GPL style licensing terms and therefore

Line 179

Line 227

subject to the terms of the originator's copyright notices. Note that

Linux "distributions" may also be subject additional copyright claims

of the distributing organization, either as a compilation or on material

included that's not part of the Linux core.

included that is not part of the Linux core.

<dt>X, XFree86<dd>

X and XFree86 are not parts of OpenBSD, rather X or Xfree86 is distributed

with many OpenBSD ports as a convenience to the user, subject to applicable

license terms.

<dt>Shareware, Charityware, Freeware, etc.<dd>

Most "shareware" copyright notices impose conditions for redistribution,

use or visibility that are at conflict with the OpenBSD project goals.

Line 192

Line 245

<dt>Public Domain<dd>

While material that is truly entered into the "Public Domain" can be

included in OpenBSD, review is required on a case by case basis.

Frequently "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does not

Frequently the "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does

really hold all rights under Copyright law to grant that status, or

not really hold all rights under Copyright law to grant that status or

there are a variety of conditions imposed on use. For a work to be

truly in the "Public Domain" all rights are abandoned and it is offered

truly in the "Public Domain" all rights are abandoned and the material

without restrictions.

is offered without restrictions.

</dl>

<hr>