Annotation of www/policy.html, Revision 1.11
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1.1 grr 16:
1.6 deraadt 17: <h1><font color=#e00000>OpenBSD Copyright Policy</font></h1>
1.1 grr 18: <p>
19: Copyright law is complex, OpenBSD policy is simple - OpenBSD strives to
1.11 ! millert 20: maintain the spirit of the original Berkeley Unix copyrights.
1.1 grr 21: </p>
22: <p>
1.3 grr 23: OpenBSD can exist as it does today because of the example set by the
24: Computer Systems Research Group at Berkeley and the battles which they
1.11 ! millert 25: and others fought to create a relatively un-encumbered Unix source
1.3 grr 26: distribution.
27: </p>
28: <p>
1.11 ! millert 29: The ability of a <strong>freely redistributable</strong> "Berkeley" Unix
1.3 grr 30: to move forward on a competitive basis with other operating systems depends
31: on the willingness of the various development groups to exchange code amongst
32: themselves and with other projects.
33:
1.4 deraadt 34: Understanding the legal issues surrounding copyright is fundamental to
1.3 grr 35: the ability to exchange and re-distribute code, while honoring the spirit of
36: the copyright and concept of attribution is fundamental to promoting the
37: cooperation of the people involved.
38: </p>
39: <p>
1.6 deraadt 40: <h3><font color=#0000e0>The Berkeley Copyright</font></h3>
1.1 grr 41: The Berkeley copyright poses no restrictions on private or commercial
42: use of the software and imposes only simple and uniform requirements
43: for maintaining copyright notices in redistributed versions and
44: crediting the originator of the material <strong>only</strong> in
45: advertising.
46: </p>
47: <p>
1.3 grr 48: Because the OpenBSD copyright imposes no conditions beyond those
49: imposed by the Berkeley copyright, OpenBSD can hope to share the same
50: wide distribution and applicability as the Berkeley distributions.
51: It follows however, that OpenBSD can not include material which
52: includes copyrights which are more restrictive than the Berkeley
53: copyright, or must relegate this material to a secondary status,
54: i.e. OpenBSD as a whole is freely redistributable, but some optional
55: components may not be.
1.1 grr 56: </p>
1.6 deraadt 57: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Copyright Law</font></h3>
1.3 grr 58: <p>
1.1 grr 59: While the overall subject of copyright law is far beyond the scope of
1.2 grr 60: this document, some basics are in order. Under the current copyright law,
1.1 grr 61: copyrights are implicit in the creation of a new work and reside with
62: the creator, unless otherwise assigned. In general the copyright applies
63: only to the new work, not the material the work was derived from, nor
64: those portions of the derivative material included in the new work.
65: </p>
66: <p>
67: Copyright law admits to three general categories of works:
68: <dl>
69: </dt>Original Work
70: <dd>A new work that is not derived from an existing work.
71: <dt>Derivative Work
72: <dd>Work that is derived from, includes or amends existing works.
73: <dt>Compilations
74: <dd>A work that is a compilation of existing new and derivative works.
75: </dl>
76: The fundamental concept is that there is primacy of the copyright, that
1.10 espie 77: is a copyright of a derivative work does not affect the rights held by
1.1 grr 78: the owner of the copyright of the original work, rather only the part
79: added. Likewise the copyright of a compilation does not affect the rights
80: of the owner of the included works, only the compilation as an entity.
81: </p>
82: <p>
83: It is vitally important to understand that copyrights are broad protections
1.3 grr 84: as defined by national and international copyright law. The "copyright
85: notices" usually included in source files are not copyrights, but rather
86: notices that a party asserts that they hold copyright to the material or
1.5 todd 87: to part of the material. Typically these notices are associated with
1.3 grr 88: license terms which grant permissions subject to copyright law and with
89: disclaimers that state the position of the copyright holder/distributor
90: with respect to liability surrounding use of the material.
1.1 grr 91: </p>
1.6 deraadt 92: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Permissions - the flip side</font></h3>
1.1 grr 93: </p>
94: Because copyrights arise from the creation of a work, rather than through
1.3 grr 95: a registration process, there needs to be a practical way to extend
1.1 grr 96: permission to use a work beyond that which might be allowed by "fair use"
97: provisions of the copyright laws.
98: </p>
99: This permission typically takes the form of a "release" or "license"
100: included in the work, which grants the additional uses beyond those
101: granted by copyright law, usually subject to a variety of conditions.
1.3 grr 102: At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator asserts that
103: he imposes no restrictions on use of the material, at the other
104: restrictive clauses that actually grant no additional rights or impose
105: restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on use of the work.
1.1 grr 106: </p>
107: <p>
1.3 grr 108: Again, an important point to note is that the release and conditions can
1.1 grr 109: only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright
110: holder - the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither
1.3 grr 111: grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more
112: restrictive conditions for use of that work.
1.1 grr 113: </p>
114: <p>
1.3 grr 115: Because copyright arises from the creation of a work and not the text
116: or a registration process, removing or altering a copyright notice or
1.10 espie 117: associated release terms has no bearing on the existence of the copyright,
1.3 grr 118: rather all that is accomplished to whatever rights the person making the
119: modifications had to use the material in the first place. Likewise, adding
120: terms and conditions in conflict with the original terms and conditions
1.10 espie 121: does not supersede them, rather it casts doubts on the rights of the person
1.3 grr 122: making the amendments to use the material and creates confusion as to
1.5 todd 123: whether anyone can use amended version or derivatives thereof.
1.1 grr 124: </p>
125: <p>
126: Finally, releases are generally binding on the material that they
127: are distributed with. This means that if the originator of a work distributes
128: that work with a release granting certain permissions, those permissions
129: apply as stated, without discrimination, to all persons legitimately
130: possessing a copy of the work. That means that having granted a permission,
131: the copyright holder can not retroactively say that an individual or class
132: of individuals are no longer granted those permissions. Likewise should
133: the copyright holder decide to "go commercial" he can not revoke permissions
134: already granted for the use of the work as distributed, though he may impose
135: more restrictive permissions in his future distributions of that work.
136: </p>
1.6 deraadt 137: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Specific Cases</font></h3>
1.1 grr 138: <p>
139: This section attempts to summarize the position of OpenBSD relative to
140: some commonly encountered copyrights.
141: </p>
142: <dl>
143: <dt>Berkeley<dd><p>
144: The Berkeley copyright is the model for the OpenBSD copyright. It retains
145: the rights of the copyright holder, while imposing minimal conditions on
146: the use of the copyrighted material. Material with Berkeley copyrights,
1.3 grr 147: or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be
148: included in OpenBSD.
1.1 grr 149: </p>
150: <dt>AT&T<dd><p>
1.11 ! millert 151: While AT&T holds the copyrights to much "Unix" code and documentation,
1.2 grr 152: OpenBSD is based largely on Berkeley (BSD) distributions that contain only
1.1 grr 153: material known to be free of AT&T copyrights, or material to which
1.10 espie 154: AT&T has abandoned its copyright or included licensing terms similar
1.1 grr 155: to the Berkeley terms. No material subject to restrictive AT&T
156: copyrights can be included in OpenBSD.
157: </p>
1.3 grr 158: <p>
159: Examples of AT&T code, included subject to non-restrictive copyrights,
160: include some system sources such as init_main.c and the AT&T version
161: of awk.
162: </p>
1.1 grr 163: <dt>DEC, Sun, other manufacturers/software houses.<dd><p>
164: In general OpenBSD does not include material copyrighted by manufacturers
165: or software houses. Material may be included where the copyright owner has
166: granted general permission for reuse without conditions, with terms similar
167: to the Berkeley copyright, or where the material is the product of an
1.8 d 168: employee and the employer's copyright notice effectively releases any
1.1 grr 169: rights they might have to the work.
170: </p>
171: <dt>Carnegie-Mellon (CMU, Mach)<dd><p>
172: The Carnegie-Mellon copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
173: that it requests that derivative works be made available to Carnegie-Mellon.
174: Because this is only a request and not a condition, such material can still
175: be included in OpenBSD. It should be noted that existing versions of Mach
176: are still subject to AT&T copyrights, which prevents the general
177: distribution of Mach sources.
178: </p>
1.11 ! millert 179: <dt>Apache<dd><p>
! 180: The Apache copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
! 181: that it stipulates that products derived from the code may not
! 182: have "Apache" in their name. The purpose of this clause is to
! 183: avoid a situation in which another party releases a modified version
! 184: of the code named in such a way to make users think that it is the
! 185: "official" version. This is not an issue with OpenBSD because
! 186: OpenBSD is a <strong>Compilation</strong>, and not a
! 187: <strong>Derived Work</strong>.
! 188: </p>
1.3 grr 189: <dt>GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc.<dd><p>
1.1 grr 190: The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction
191: that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that
1.3 grr 192: are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code.
193: </p>
194: <p>
195: While this may be a noble strategy in terms of software sharing, it is a
196: condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software.
197: As a consequence, software bound by the GPL terms can not be included in
1.7 deraadt 198: the kernel or "runtime" of OpenBSD, though software subject to GPL terms
1.8 d 199: may be included as development tools or as part of the system that are
1.3 grr 200: "optional" as long as such use does not result in OpenBSD as a whole
201: becoming subject to the GPL terms.
202: </p>
203: <p>
204: As an example, some ports include GNU Floating Point Emulation - this is
205: optional and the system can be built without it or with an alternative
1.8 d 206: emulation package. Another example is the use of GCC and other GNU tools in
1.3 grr 207: the OpenBSD tool chain - it is quite possible to distribute a system for
208: many applications without a tool chain, or the distributor can choose to
1.8 d 209: include a tool chain as an optional bundle which conforms to the GPL terms.
1.3 grr 210: <p>
1.1 grr 211: </p>
212: <dt>NetBSD<dd><p>
1.5 todd 213: Much of OpenBSD is originally based on and evolved from NetBSD, since some
1.3 grr 214: of the OpenBSD developers were involved in the NetBSD project. The general
215: NetBSD license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit
216: such use. Material subject <strong>only</strong> to the general NetBSD
217: license can generally be included in OpenBSD.
218: </p>
219: <p>
1.11 ! millert 220: In the past, NetBSD has included material copyrighted by individuals
! 221: who have imposed license conditions beyond that of the general
! 222: NetBSD license, but granted the NetBSD Foundation license to
! 223: distribute the material. Such material can not be included in
! 224: OpenBSD as long as the conditions imposed are at odds with the
! 225: OpenBSD license terms or releases from those terms are offered on
! 226: a discriminatory basis.
1.1 grr 227: </p>
228: <dt>FreeBSD<dd><p>
1.3 grr 229: Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or includes
1.2 grr 230: copyright notices based on the Berkeley model. Such material can be
1.3 grr 231: included in OpenBSD, while those parts that are subject to GPL or
232: various individual copyright terms that are at odds with the OpenBSD license
233: can not be included in OpenBSD.
1.1 grr 234: </p>
235: <dt>Linux<dd><p>
236: Most of Linux is subject to GPL style licensing terms and therefore
1.2 grr 237: can not be included in OpenBSD. Individual components may be eligible,
1.1 grr 238: subject to the terms of the originator's copyright notices. Note that
1.8 d 239: Linux "distributions" may also be subject to additional copyright claims
1.1 grr 240: of the distributing organization, either as a compilation or on material
1.3 grr 241: included that is not part of the Linux core.
242: </p>
243: <dt>X, XFree86<dd><p>
1.8 d 244: X and XFree86 are not parts of OpenBSD, rather X or XFree86 is distributed
1.3 grr 245: with many OpenBSD ports as a convenience to the user, subject to applicable
246: license terms.
1.1 grr 247: </p>
248: <dt>Shareware, Charityware, Freeware, etc.<dd><p>
249: Most "shareware" copyright notices impose conditions for redistribution,
250: use or visibility that are at conflict with the OpenBSD project goals.
251: Review on a case-by-case basis is required as to whether the wording
1.2 grr 252: of the conditions is acceptable in terms of conditions being requested vs.
1.1 grr 253: demanded and whether the spirit of the conditions is compatible with
1.2 grr 254: goals of the OpenBSD project.
1.1 grr 255: </p>
256: <dt>Public Domain<dd><p>
257: While material that is truly entered into the "Public Domain" can be
258: included in OpenBSD, review is required on a case by case basis.
1.3 grr 259: Frequently the "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does
260: not really hold all rights under Copyright law to grant that status or
1.1 grr 261: there are a variety of conditions imposed on use. For a work to be
1.3 grr 262: truly in the "Public Domain" all rights are abandoned and the material
263: is offered without restrictions.
1.1 grr 264: </dl>
265:
266: <hr>
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