Annotation of www/policy.html, Revision 1.15
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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>
1.13 deraadt 50: For instance:
51: <p>
52: <pre>
53: * Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1993
54: * The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
55: *
56: * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
57: * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
58: * are met:
59: * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
60: * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
61: * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
62: * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
63: * documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
64: * 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
65: * must display the following acknowledgement:
66: * This product includes software developed by the University of
67: * California, Berkeley and its contributors.
68: * 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
69: * may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
70: * without specific prior written permission.
71: *
72: * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
73: * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
74: * IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
75: * ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
76: * FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
77: * DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
78: * OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
79: * HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
80: * LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
81: * OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
82: * SUCH DAMAGE.
83: *
84: </pre>
85: <p>
86: (Note: In some parts of the system, you may find that terms 3 and 4 have been
87: removed, making things even easier)
88: <p>
1.3 grr 89: Because the OpenBSD copyright imposes no conditions beyond those
90: imposed by the Berkeley copyright, OpenBSD can hope to share the same
91: wide distribution and applicability as the Berkeley distributions.
92: It follows however, that OpenBSD can not include material which
93: includes copyrights which are more restrictive than the Berkeley
94: copyright, or must relegate this material to a secondary status,
95: i.e. OpenBSD as a whole is freely redistributable, but some optional
96: components may not be.
97: <p>
1.12 deraadt 98:
99: <li><h3><font color=#e00000>Copyright Law</font></h3><p>
1.1 grr 100: While the overall subject of copyright law is far beyond the scope of
1.2 grr 101: this document, some basics are in order. Under the current copyright law,
1.1 grr 102: copyrights are implicit in the creation of a new work and reside with
103: the creator, unless otherwise assigned. In general the copyright applies
104: only to the new work, not the material the work was derived from, nor
105: those portions of the derivative material included in the new work.
106: <p>
1.12 deraadt 107:
1.1 grr 108: Copyright law admits to three general categories of works:
109: <dl>
1.14 jufi 110: <dt>Original Work
1.1 grr 111: <dd>A new work that is not derived from an existing work.
112: <dt>Derivative Work
113: <dd>Work that is derived from, includes or amends existing works.
114: <dt>Compilations
115: <dd>A work that is a compilation of existing new and derivative works.
116: </dl>
1.12 deraadt 117: <p>
118:
1.1 grr 119: The fundamental concept is that there is primacy of the copyright, that
1.10 espie 120: is a copyright of a derivative work does not affect the rights held by
1.1 grr 121: the owner of the copyright of the original work, rather only the part
122: added. Likewise the copyright of a compilation does not affect the rights
123: of the owner of the included works, only the compilation as an entity.
124: <p>
1.12 deraadt 125:
1.1 grr 126: It is vitally important to understand that copyrights are broad protections
1.3 grr 127: as defined by national and international copyright law. The "copyright
128: notices" usually included in source files are not copyrights, but rather
129: notices that a party asserts that they hold copyright to the material or
1.5 todd 130: to part of the material. Typically these notices are associated with
1.3 grr 131: license terms which grant permissions subject to copyright law and with
132: disclaimers that state the position of the copyright holder/distributor
133: with respect to liability surrounding use of the material.
1.12 deraadt 134: <p>
135:
136: <li><h3><font color=#e00000>Permissions - the flip side</font></h3><p>
137:
1.1 grr 138: Because copyrights arise from the creation of a work, rather than through
1.3 grr 139: a registration process, there needs to be a practical way to extend
1.1 grr 140: permission to use a work beyond that which might be allowed by "fair use"
141: provisions of the copyright laws.
1.12 deraadt 142: <p>
143:
1.1 grr 144: This permission typically takes the form of a "release" or "license"
145: included in the work, which grants the additional uses beyond those
146: granted by copyright law, usually subject to a variety of conditions.
1.3 grr 147: At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator asserts that
148: he imposes no restrictions on use of the material, at the other
149: restrictive clauses that actually grant no additional rights or impose
150: restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on use of the work.
1.1 grr 151: <p>
1.12 deraadt 152:
1.3 grr 153: Again, an important point to note is that the release and conditions can
1.1 grr 154: only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright
155: holder - the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither
1.3 grr 156: grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more
157: restrictive conditions for use of that work.
1.1 grr 158: <p>
1.12 deraadt 159:
1.3 grr 160: Because copyright arises from the creation of a work and not the text
161: or a registration process, removing or altering a copyright notice or
1.10 espie 162: associated release terms has no bearing on the existence of the copyright,
1.3 grr 163: rather all that is accomplished to whatever rights the person making the
164: modifications had to use the material in the first place. Likewise, adding
165: terms and conditions in conflict with the original terms and conditions
1.10 espie 166: does not supersede them, rather it casts doubts on the rights of the person
1.3 grr 167: making the amendments to use the material and creates confusion as to
1.5 todd 168: whether anyone can use amended version or derivatives thereof.
1.1 grr 169: <p>
1.12 deraadt 170:
1.1 grr 171: Finally, releases are generally binding on the material that they
172: are distributed with. This means that if the originator of a work distributes
173: that work with a release granting certain permissions, those permissions
174: apply as stated, without discrimination, to all persons legitimately
175: possessing a copy of the work. That means that having granted a permission,
176: the copyright holder can not retroactively say that an individual or class
177: of individuals are no longer granted those permissions. Likewise should
178: the copyright holder decide to "go commercial" he can not revoke permissions
179: already granted for the use of the work as distributed, though he may impose
180: more restrictive permissions in his future distributions of that work.
181: <p>
1.12 deraadt 182:
183: <li><h3><font color=#e00000>Specific Cases</font></h3><p>
184:
1.1 grr 185: This section attempts to summarize the position of OpenBSD relative to
186: some commonly encountered copyrights.
1.12 deraadt 187: <p>
188:
1.1 grr 189: <dl>
190: <dt>Berkeley<dd><p>
191: The Berkeley copyright is the model for the OpenBSD copyright. It retains
192: the rights of the copyright holder, while imposing minimal conditions on
193: the use of the copyrighted material. Material with Berkeley copyrights,
1.3 grr 194: or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be
195: included in OpenBSD.
1.12 deraadt 196: <p>
197:
1.1 grr 198: <dt>AT&T<dd><p>
1.11 millert 199: While AT&T holds the copyrights to much "Unix" code and documentation,
1.2 grr 200: OpenBSD is based largely on Berkeley (BSD) distributions that contain only
1.1 grr 201: material known to be free of AT&T copyrights, or material to which
1.10 espie 202: AT&T has abandoned its copyright or included licensing terms similar
1.1 grr 203: to the Berkeley terms. No material subject to restrictive AT&T
204: copyrights can be included in OpenBSD.
1.3 grr 205: <p>
1.12 deraadt 206:
1.3 grr 207: Examples of AT&T code, included subject to non-restrictive copyrights,
208: include some system sources such as init_main.c and the AT&T version
209: of awk.
1.12 deraadt 210: <p>
211:
1.1 grr 212: <dt>DEC, Sun, other manufacturers/software houses.<dd><p>
213: In general OpenBSD does not include material copyrighted by manufacturers
214: or software houses. Material may be included where the copyright owner has
215: granted general permission for reuse without conditions, with terms similar
216: to the Berkeley copyright, or where the material is the product of an
1.8 d 217: employee and the employer's copyright notice effectively releases any
1.1 grr 218: rights they might have to the work.
1.12 deraadt 219: <p>
220:
1.1 grr 221: <dt>Carnegie-Mellon (CMU, Mach)<dd><p>
222: The Carnegie-Mellon copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
223: that it requests that derivative works be made available to Carnegie-Mellon.
224: Because this is only a request and not a condition, such material can still
225: be included in OpenBSD. It should be noted that existing versions of Mach
226: are still subject to AT&T copyrights, which prevents the general
227: distribution of Mach sources.
1.12 deraadt 228: <p>
229:
1.11 millert 230: <dt>Apache<dd><p>
231: The Apache copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
232: that it stipulates that products derived from the code may not
233: have "Apache" in their name. The purpose of this clause is to
234: avoid a situation in which another party releases a modified version
235: of the code named in such a way to make users think that it is the
236: "official" version. This is not an issue with OpenBSD because
237: OpenBSD is a <strong>Compilation</strong>, and not a
238: <strong>Derived Work</strong>.
1.12 deraadt 239: <p>
240:
1.3 grr 241: <dt>GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc.<dd><p>
1.1 grr 242: The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction
243: that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that
1.3 grr 244: are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code.
245: <p>
1.12 deraadt 246:
1.3 grr 247: While this may be a noble strategy in terms of software sharing, it is a
248: condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software.
249: As a consequence, software bound by the GPL terms can not be included in
1.7 deraadt 250: the kernel or "runtime" of OpenBSD, though software subject to GPL terms
1.8 d 251: may be included as development tools or as part of the system that are
1.3 grr 252: "optional" as long as such use does not result in OpenBSD as a whole
253: becoming subject to the GPL terms.
254: <p>
1.12 deraadt 255:
1.3 grr 256: As an example, some ports include GNU Floating Point Emulation - this is
257: optional and the system can be built without it or with an alternative
1.8 d 258: emulation package. Another example is the use of GCC and other GNU tools in
1.3 grr 259: the OpenBSD tool chain - it is quite possible to distribute a system for
260: many applications without a tool chain, or the distributor can choose to
1.8 d 261: include a tool chain as an optional bundle which conforms to the GPL terms.
1.3 grr 262: <p>
1.12 deraadt 263:
1.1 grr 264: <dt>NetBSD<dd><p>
1.5 todd 265: Much of OpenBSD is originally based on and evolved from NetBSD, since some
1.3 grr 266: of the OpenBSD developers were involved in the NetBSD project. The general
267: NetBSD license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit
268: such use. Material subject <strong>only</strong> to the general NetBSD
269: license can generally be included in OpenBSD.
270: <p>
1.12 deraadt 271:
1.11 millert 272: In the past, NetBSD has included material copyrighted by individuals
273: who have imposed license conditions beyond that of the general
274: NetBSD license, but granted the NetBSD Foundation license to
275: distribute the material. Such material can not be included in
276: OpenBSD as long as the conditions imposed are at odds with the
277: OpenBSD license terms or releases from those terms are offered on
278: a discriminatory basis.
1.12 deraadt 279: <p>
280:
1.1 grr 281: <dt>FreeBSD<dd><p>
1.3 grr 282: Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or includes
1.2 grr 283: copyright notices based on the Berkeley model. Such material can be
1.3 grr 284: included in OpenBSD, while those parts that are subject to GPL or
285: various individual copyright terms that are at odds with the OpenBSD license
286: can not be included in OpenBSD.
1.12 deraadt 287: <p>
288:
1.1 grr 289: <dt>Linux<dd><p>
290: Most of Linux is subject to GPL style licensing terms and therefore
1.2 grr 291: can not be included in OpenBSD. Individual components may be eligible,
1.1 grr 292: subject to the terms of the originator's copyright notices. Note that
1.8 d 293: Linux "distributions" may also be subject to additional copyright claims
1.1 grr 294: of the distributing organization, either as a compilation or on material
1.3 grr 295: included that is not part of the Linux core.
1.12 deraadt 296: <p>
297:
1.3 grr 298: <dt>X, XFree86<dd><p>
1.8 d 299: X and XFree86 are not parts of OpenBSD, rather X or XFree86 is distributed
1.3 grr 300: with many OpenBSD ports as a convenience to the user, subject to applicable
301: license terms.
1.12 deraadt 302: <p>
303:
1.1 grr 304: <dt>Shareware, Charityware, Freeware, etc.<dd><p>
305: Most "shareware" copyright notices impose conditions for redistribution,
306: use or visibility that are at conflict with the OpenBSD project goals.
307: Review on a case-by-case basis is required as to whether the wording
1.2 grr 308: of the conditions is acceptable in terms of conditions being requested vs.
1.1 grr 309: demanded and whether the spirit of the conditions is compatible with
1.2 grr 310: goals of the OpenBSD project.
1.12 deraadt 311: <p>
312:
1.1 grr 313: <dt>Public Domain<dd><p>
314: While material that is truly entered into the "Public Domain" can be
315: included in OpenBSD, review is required on a case by case basis.
1.3 grr 316: Frequently the "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does
317: not really hold all rights under Copyright law to grant that status or
1.1 grr 318: there are a variety of conditions imposed on use. For a work to be
1.3 grr 319: truly in the "Public Domain" all rights are abandoned and the material
320: is offered without restrictions.
1.12 deraadt 321: <p>
322:
323: </dl>
324:
1.1 grr 325: </dl>
326:
327: <hr>
1.9 pauls 328: <a href=index.html><img height=24 width=24 src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
1.1 grr 329: <a href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>www@openbsd.org</a>
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