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RCS file: /cvsrepo/anoncvs/cvs/www/policy.html,v
retrieving revision 1.2
retrieving revision 1.3
diff -u -r1.2 -r1.3
--- www/policy.html 1997/06/13 11:52:20 1.2
+++ www/policy.html 1997/06/14 10:48:14 1.3
@@ -17,9 +17,27 @@
OpenBSD Copyright Policy
Copyright law is complex, OpenBSD policy is simple - OpenBSD strives to
-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.
+
+
+
The Berkeley Copyright
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
@@ -27,14 +45,17 @@
advertising.
-While this means that OpenBSD is has the same broad applicability as
-the material it was derived from, it also follows that OpenBSD can not
-include some material which includes more restrictive copyrights, or
-must limit it's scope - for example GPL style copyrights are not
-acceptable for inclusion in the kernel or what would constitute a
-"binary release" of OpenBSD.
+Because the OpenBSD copyright imposes no conditions beyond those
+imposed by the Berkeley copyright, OpenBSD can hope to share the same
+wide distribution and applicability as the Berkeley distributions.
+It follows however, that OpenBSD can not include material which
+includes copyrights which are more restrictive than the Berkeley
+copyright, or must relegate this material to a secondary status,
+i.e. OpenBSD as a whole is freely redistributable, but some optional
+components may not be.
Copyright Law
+
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
@@ -60,42 +81,46 @@
It is vitally important to understand that copyrights are broad protections
-as defined by national and international copyright law, not assertions of
-the copyright holder as to what might or might be copyrighted, nor the
-conditions for use imposed by the copyright holder.
+as defined by national and international copyright law. The "copyright
+notices" usually included in source files are not copyrights, but rather
+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.
Permissions - the flip side
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
-asserts that he imposes no restrictions on any use of the material, at
-the other highly restrictive releases that actually grant no additional
-rights or impose restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on
-use of the work.
+At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator asserts that
+he imposes no restrictions on use of the material, at the other
+restrictive clauses that actually grant no additional rights or impose
+restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on 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
-conditions for that work.
+grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more
+restrictive conditions for use of that work.
-When a party asserting copyright rights removes prior copyright notices
-or releases from a work, or attempts to impose permissions or conditions
-that are in conflict with the permissions or conditions imposed by the
-originator of the work, these conditions are not binding on the original
-work. In fact, if their permissions or conditions are contrary to those
-asserted by the copyright holder of the original work, that party is
-probably setting up a situation where they no longer have permission to
-use the work at all, let along impose conditions on its use.
+Because copyright arises from the creation of a work and not the text
+or a registration process, removing or altering a copyright notice or
+associated release terms has no bearing on the existance of the copyright,
+rather all that is accomplished to whatever rights the person making the
+modifications had to use the material in the first place. Likewise, adding
+terms and conditions in conflict with the original terms and conditions
+does not supercede them, rather it casts doubts on the rights of the person
+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
@@ -119,8 +144,8 @@
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
-in OpenBSD.
+or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be
+included in OpenBSD.
AT&T
While AT&T holds the copyrights to much "unix" code and documentation,
@@ -130,6 +155,11 @@
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.
+
DEC, Sun, other manufacturers/software houses.
In general OpenBSD does not include material copyrighted by manufacturers
or software houses. Material may be included where the copyright owner has
@@ -146,32 +176,50 @@
are still subject to AT&T copyrights, which prevents the general
distribution of Mach sources.
-GNU General Public License, GPL, copyleft, etc.
+
GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc.
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
-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.
+are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code.
+
+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.
+
+
NetBSD
-Much of OpenBSD is largely based on NetBSD, since some of the OpenBSD
-developers were involved in the NetBSD project and the general NetBSD
-license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit such
-use. Since that time, individuals associated with the NetBSD project
-or the "NetBSD Foundation" have inserted stricter conditions in the
-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.
+Much of OpenBSD is orignally based on and evolveed from NetBSD, since some
+of the OpenBSD developers were involved in the NetBSD project. The general
+NetBSD license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit
+such use. Material subject only to the general NetBSD
+license can generally 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.
+
FreeBSD
-Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or include
+Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or includes
copyright notices based on the Berkeley model. Such material can be
-included in OpenBSD, while parts that are subject to GPL or various
-individual copyright terms can not be include in OpenBSD.
+included in OpenBSD, while those parts that are subject to GPL or
+various individual copyright terms that are at odds with the OpenBSD license
+can not be included in OpenBSD.
Linux
Most of Linux is subject to GPL style licensing terms and therefore
@@ -179,8 +227,13 @@
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.
+X, XFree86
+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.
+
Shareware, Charityware, Freeware, etc.
Most "shareware" copyright notices impose conditions for redistribution,
use or visibility that are at conflict with the OpenBSD project goals.
@@ -192,17 +245,17 @@
Public Domain
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
-really hold all rights under Copyright law to grant that status, or
+Frequently the "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does
+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
-without restrictions.
+truly in the "Public Domain" all rights are abandoned and the material
+is offered without restrictions.
www@openbsd.org
-
$OpenBSD: policy.html,v 1.2 1997/06/13 11:52:20 grr Exp $
+
$OpenBSD: policy.html,v 1.3 1997/06/14 10:48:14 grr Exp $