Annotation of www/policy.html, Revision 1.12
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1.9 pauls 15: <img alt="[OpenBSD]" height=30 width=141 SRC="images/smalltitle.gif">
1.12 ! deraadt 16: <p>
! 17: <h2><font color=#e00000>Copyright Policy</font><hr></h2>
! 18:
! 19: <dl>
! 20: <li><h3><font color=#e00000>Goal</font></h3><p>
1.1 grr 21:
22: Copyright law is complex, OpenBSD policy is simple - OpenBSD strives to
1.11 millert 23: maintain the spirit of the original Berkeley Unix copyrights.
1.1 grr 24: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 25:
1.3 grr 26: OpenBSD can exist as it does today because of the example set by the
27: Computer Systems Research Group at Berkeley and the battles which they
1.11 millert 28: and others fought to create a relatively un-encumbered Unix source
1.3 grr 29: distribution.
30: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 31:
1.11 millert 32: The ability of a <strong>freely redistributable</strong> "Berkeley" Unix
1.3 grr 33: to move forward on a competitive basis with other operating systems depends
34: on the willingness of the various development groups to exchange code amongst
35: themselves and with other projects.
1.4 deraadt 36: Understanding the legal issues surrounding copyright is fundamental to
1.3 grr 37: the ability to exchange and re-distribute code, while honoring the spirit of
38: the copyright and concept of attribution is fundamental to promoting the
39: cooperation of the people involved.
40: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 41:
! 42: <li><h3><font color=#e00000>The Berkeley Copyright</font></h3><p>
! 43:
1.1 grr 44: The Berkeley copyright poses no restrictions on private or commercial
45: use of the software and imposes only simple and uniform requirements
46: for maintaining copyright notices in redistributed versions and
47: crediting the originator of the material <strong>only</strong> in
48: advertising.
49: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 50:
1.3 grr 51: Because the OpenBSD copyright imposes no conditions beyond those
52: imposed by the Berkeley copyright, OpenBSD can hope to share the same
53: wide distribution and applicability as the Berkeley distributions.
54: It follows however, that OpenBSD can not include material which
55: includes copyrights which are more restrictive than the Berkeley
56: copyright, or must relegate this material to a secondary status,
57: i.e. OpenBSD as a whole is freely redistributable, but some optional
58: components may not be.
59: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 60:
! 61: <li><h3><font color=#e00000>Copyright Law</font></h3><p>
1.1 grr 62: While the overall subject of copyright law is far beyond the scope of
1.2 grr 63: this document, some basics are in order. Under the current copyright law,
1.1 grr 64: copyrights are implicit in the creation of a new work and reside with
65: the creator, unless otherwise assigned. In general the copyright applies
66: only to the new work, not the material the work was derived from, nor
67: those portions of the derivative material included in the new work.
68: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 69:
1.1 grr 70: Copyright law admits to three general categories of works:
71: <dl>
72: </dt>Original Work
73: <dd>A new work that is not derived from an existing work.
74: <dt>Derivative Work
75: <dd>Work that is derived from, includes or amends existing works.
76: <dt>Compilations
77: <dd>A work that is a compilation of existing new and derivative works.
78: </dl>
1.12 ! deraadt 79: <p>
! 80:
1.1 grr 81: The fundamental concept is that there is primacy of the copyright, that
1.10 espie 82: is a copyright of a derivative work does not affect the rights held by
1.1 grr 83: the owner of the copyright of the original work, rather only the part
84: added. Likewise the copyright of a compilation does not affect the rights
85: of the owner of the included works, only the compilation as an entity.
86: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 87:
1.1 grr 88: It is vitally important to understand that copyrights are broad protections
1.3 grr 89: as defined by national and international copyright law. The "copyright
90: notices" usually included in source files are not copyrights, but rather
91: notices that a party asserts that they hold copyright to the material or
1.5 todd 92: to part of the material. Typically these notices are associated with
1.3 grr 93: license terms which grant permissions subject to copyright law and with
94: disclaimers that state the position of the copyright holder/distributor
95: with respect to liability surrounding use of the material.
1.12 ! deraadt 96: <p>
! 97:
! 98: <li><h3><font color=#e00000>Permissions - the flip side</font></h3><p>
! 99:
1.1 grr 100: Because copyrights arise from the creation of a work, rather than through
1.3 grr 101: a registration process, there needs to be a practical way to extend
1.1 grr 102: permission to use a work beyond that which might be allowed by "fair use"
103: provisions of the copyright laws.
1.12 ! deraadt 104: <p>
! 105:
1.1 grr 106: This permission typically takes the form of a "release" or "license"
107: included in the work, which grants the additional uses beyond those
108: granted by copyright law, usually subject to a variety of conditions.
1.3 grr 109: At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator asserts that
110: he imposes no restrictions on use of the material, at the other
111: restrictive clauses that actually grant no additional rights or impose
112: restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on use of the work.
1.1 grr 113: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 114:
1.3 grr 115: Again, an important point to note is that the release and conditions can
1.1 grr 116: only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright
117: holder - the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither
1.3 grr 118: grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more
119: restrictive conditions for use of that work.
1.1 grr 120: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 121:
1.3 grr 122: Because copyright arises from the creation of a work and not the text
123: or a registration process, removing or altering a copyright notice or
1.10 espie 124: associated release terms has no bearing on the existence of the copyright,
1.3 grr 125: rather all that is accomplished to whatever rights the person making the
126: modifications had to use the material in the first place. Likewise, adding
127: terms and conditions in conflict with the original terms and conditions
1.10 espie 128: does not supersede them, rather it casts doubts on the rights of the person
1.3 grr 129: making the amendments to use the material and creates confusion as to
1.5 todd 130: whether anyone can use amended version or derivatives thereof.
1.1 grr 131: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 132:
1.1 grr 133: Finally, releases are generally binding on the material that they
134: are distributed with. This means that if the originator of a work distributes
135: that work with a release granting certain permissions, those permissions
136: apply as stated, without discrimination, to all persons legitimately
137: possessing a copy of the work. That means that having granted a permission,
138: the copyright holder can not retroactively say that an individual or class
139: of individuals are no longer granted those permissions. Likewise should
140: the copyright holder decide to "go commercial" he can not revoke permissions
141: already granted for the use of the work as distributed, though he may impose
142: more restrictive permissions in his future distributions of that work.
143: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 144:
! 145: <li><h3><font color=#e00000>Specific Cases</font></h3><p>
! 146:
1.1 grr 147: This section attempts to summarize the position of OpenBSD relative to
148: some commonly encountered copyrights.
1.12 ! deraadt 149: <p>
! 150:
1.1 grr 151: <dl>
152: <dt>Berkeley<dd><p>
153: The Berkeley copyright is the model for the OpenBSD copyright. It retains
154: the rights of the copyright holder, while imposing minimal conditions on
155: the use of the copyrighted material. Material with Berkeley copyrights,
1.3 grr 156: or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be
157: included in OpenBSD.
1.12 ! deraadt 158: <p>
! 159:
1.1 grr 160: <dt>AT&T<dd><p>
1.11 millert 161: While AT&T holds the copyrights to much "Unix" code and documentation,
1.2 grr 162: OpenBSD is based largely on Berkeley (BSD) distributions that contain only
1.1 grr 163: material known to be free of AT&T copyrights, or material to which
1.10 espie 164: AT&T has abandoned its copyright or included licensing terms similar
1.1 grr 165: to the Berkeley terms. No material subject to restrictive AT&T
166: copyrights can be included in OpenBSD.
1.3 grr 167: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 168:
1.3 grr 169: Examples of AT&T code, included subject to non-restrictive copyrights,
170: include some system sources such as init_main.c and the AT&T version
171: of awk.
1.12 ! deraadt 172: <p>
! 173:
1.1 grr 174: <dt>DEC, Sun, other manufacturers/software houses.<dd><p>
175: In general OpenBSD does not include material copyrighted by manufacturers
176: or software houses. Material may be included where the copyright owner has
177: granted general permission for reuse without conditions, with terms similar
178: to the Berkeley copyright, or where the material is the product of an
1.8 d 179: employee and the employer's copyright notice effectively releases any
1.1 grr 180: rights they might have to the work.
1.12 ! deraadt 181: <p>
! 182:
1.1 grr 183: <dt>Carnegie-Mellon (CMU, Mach)<dd><p>
184: The Carnegie-Mellon copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
185: that it requests that derivative works be made available to Carnegie-Mellon.
186: Because this is only a request and not a condition, such material can still
187: be included in OpenBSD. It should be noted that existing versions of Mach
188: are still subject to AT&T copyrights, which prevents the general
189: distribution of Mach sources.
1.12 ! deraadt 190: <p>
! 191:
1.11 millert 192: <dt>Apache<dd><p>
193: The Apache copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
194: that it stipulates that products derived from the code may not
195: have "Apache" in their name. The purpose of this clause is to
196: avoid a situation in which another party releases a modified version
197: of the code named in such a way to make users think that it is the
198: "official" version. This is not an issue with OpenBSD because
199: OpenBSD is a <strong>Compilation</strong>, and not a
200: <strong>Derived Work</strong>.
1.12 ! deraadt 201: <p>
! 202:
1.3 grr 203: <dt>GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc.<dd><p>
1.1 grr 204: The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction
205: that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that
1.3 grr 206: are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code.
207: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 208:
1.3 grr 209: While this may be a noble strategy in terms of software sharing, it is a
210: condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software.
211: As a consequence, software bound by the GPL terms can not be included in
1.7 deraadt 212: the kernel or "runtime" of OpenBSD, though software subject to GPL terms
1.8 d 213: may be included as development tools or as part of the system that are
1.3 grr 214: "optional" as long as such use does not result in OpenBSD as a whole
215: becoming subject to the GPL terms.
216: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 217:
1.3 grr 218: As an example, some ports include GNU Floating Point Emulation - this is
219: optional and the system can be built without it or with an alternative
1.8 d 220: emulation package. Another example is the use of GCC and other GNU tools in
1.3 grr 221: the OpenBSD tool chain - it is quite possible to distribute a system for
222: many applications without a tool chain, or the distributor can choose to
1.8 d 223: include a tool chain as an optional bundle which conforms to the GPL terms.
1.3 grr 224: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 225:
1.1 grr 226: <dt>NetBSD<dd><p>
1.5 todd 227: Much of OpenBSD is originally based on and evolved from NetBSD, since some
1.3 grr 228: of the OpenBSD developers were involved in the NetBSD project. The general
229: NetBSD license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit
230: such use. Material subject <strong>only</strong> to the general NetBSD
231: license can generally be included in OpenBSD.
232: <p>
1.12 ! deraadt 233:
1.11 millert 234: In the past, NetBSD has included material copyrighted by individuals
235: who have imposed license conditions beyond that of the general
236: NetBSD license, but granted the NetBSD Foundation license to
237: distribute the material. Such material can not be included in
238: OpenBSD as long as the conditions imposed are at odds with the
239: OpenBSD license terms or releases from those terms are offered on
240: a discriminatory basis.
1.12 ! deraadt 241: <p>
! 242:
1.1 grr 243: <dt>FreeBSD<dd><p>
1.3 grr 244: Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or includes
1.2 grr 245: copyright notices based on the Berkeley model. Such material can be
1.3 grr 246: included in OpenBSD, while those parts that are subject to GPL or
247: various individual copyright terms that are at odds with the OpenBSD license
248: can not be included in OpenBSD.
1.12 ! deraadt 249: <p>
! 250:
1.1 grr 251: <dt>Linux<dd><p>
252: Most of Linux is subject to GPL style licensing terms and therefore
1.2 grr 253: can not be included in OpenBSD. Individual components may be eligible,
1.1 grr 254: subject to the terms of the originator's copyright notices. Note that
1.8 d 255: Linux "distributions" may also be subject to additional copyright claims
1.1 grr 256: of the distributing organization, either as a compilation or on material
1.3 grr 257: included that is not part of the Linux core.
1.12 ! deraadt 258: <p>
! 259:
1.3 grr 260: <dt>X, XFree86<dd><p>
1.8 d 261: X and XFree86 are not parts of OpenBSD, rather X or XFree86 is distributed
1.3 grr 262: with many OpenBSD ports as a convenience to the user, subject to applicable
263: license terms.
1.12 ! deraadt 264: <p>
! 265:
1.1 grr 266: <dt>Shareware, Charityware, Freeware, etc.<dd><p>
267: Most "shareware" copyright notices impose conditions for redistribution,
268: use or visibility that are at conflict with the OpenBSD project goals.
269: Review on a case-by-case basis is required as to whether the wording
1.2 grr 270: of the conditions is acceptable in terms of conditions being requested vs.
1.1 grr 271: demanded and whether the spirit of the conditions is compatible with
1.2 grr 272: goals of the OpenBSD project.
1.12 ! deraadt 273: <p>
! 274:
1.1 grr 275: <dt>Public Domain<dd><p>
276: While material that is truly entered into the "Public Domain" can be
277: included in OpenBSD, review is required on a case by case basis.
1.3 grr 278: Frequently the "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does
279: not really hold all rights under Copyright law to grant that status or
1.1 grr 280: there are a variety of conditions imposed on use. For a work to be
1.3 grr 281: truly in the "Public Domain" all rights are abandoned and the material
282: is offered without restrictions.
1.12 ! deraadt 283: <p>
! 284:
! 285: </dl>
! 286:
1.1 grr 287: </dl>
288:
289: <hr>
1.9 pauls 290: <a href=index.html><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
1.1 grr 291: <a href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>www@openbsd.org</a>
1.12 ! deraadt 292: <br><small>$OpenBSD: policy.html,v 1.11 1999/08/07 08:02:28 millert Exp $</small>
1.1 grr 293:
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