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1.12 deraadt 17: <p>
1.18 ! jufi 18: <h2><font color="#e00000">Copyright Policy</font></h2>
! 19: <hr>
1.12 deraadt 20:
1.18 ! jufi 21: <ul>
! 22: <li><h3><font color="#e00000">Goal</font></h3><p>
1.1 grr 23:
24: Copyright law is complex, OpenBSD policy is simple - OpenBSD strives to
1.11 millert 25: maintain the spirit of the original Berkeley Unix copyrights.
1.1 grr 26: <p>
1.12 deraadt 27:
1.3 grr 28: OpenBSD can exist as it does today because of the example set by the
29: Computer Systems Research Group at Berkeley and the battles which they
1.11 millert 30: and others fought to create a relatively un-encumbered Unix source
1.3 grr 31: distribution.
32: <p>
1.12 deraadt 33:
1.11 millert 34: The ability of a <strong>freely redistributable</strong> "Berkeley" Unix
1.3 grr 35: to move forward on a competitive basis with other operating systems depends
36: on the willingness of the various development groups to exchange code amongst
37: themselves and with other projects.
1.4 deraadt 38: Understanding the legal issues surrounding copyright is fundamental to
1.3 grr 39: the ability to exchange and re-distribute code, while honoring the spirit of
40: the copyright and concept of attribution is fundamental to promoting the
41: cooperation of the people involved.
42: <p>
1.12 deraadt 43:
1.18 ! jufi 44: <li><h3><font color="#e00000">The Berkeley Copyright</font></h3><p>
1.12 deraadt 45:
1.1 grr 46: The Berkeley copyright poses no restrictions on private or commercial
47: use of the software and imposes only simple and uniform requirements
48: for maintaining copyright notices in redistributed versions and
49: crediting the originator of the material <strong>only</strong> in
50: advertising.
51: <p>
1.13 deraadt 52: For instance:
53: <p>
54: <pre>
55: * Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1993
56: * The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
57: *
58: * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
59: * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
60: * are met:
61: * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
62: * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
63: * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
64: * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
65: * documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
66: * 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
67: * must display the following acknowledgement:
68: * This product includes software developed by the University of
69: * California, Berkeley and its contributors.
70: * 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
71: * may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
72: * without specific prior written permission.
73: *
74: * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
75: * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
76: * IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
77: * ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
78: * FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
79: * DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
80: * OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
81: * HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
82: * LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
83: * OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
84: * SUCH DAMAGE.
85: *
86: </pre>
87: <p>
88: (Note: In some parts of the system, you may find that terms 3 and 4 have been
89: removed, making things even easier)
90: <p>
1.3 grr 91: Because the OpenBSD copyright imposes no conditions beyond those
92: imposed by the Berkeley copyright, OpenBSD can hope to share the same
93: wide distribution and applicability as the Berkeley distributions.
94: It follows however, that OpenBSD can not include material which
95: includes copyrights which are more restrictive than the Berkeley
96: copyright, or must relegate this material to a secondary status,
97: i.e. OpenBSD as a whole is freely redistributable, but some optional
98: components may not be.
99: <p>
1.12 deraadt 100:
1.18 ! jufi 101: <li><h3><font color="#e00000">Copyright Law</font></h3><p>
1.1 grr 102: While the overall subject of copyright law is far beyond the scope of
1.2 grr 103: this document, some basics are in order. Under the current copyright law,
1.1 grr 104: copyrights are implicit in the creation of a new work and reside with
105: the creator, unless otherwise assigned. In general the copyright applies
106: only to the new work, not the material the work was derived from, nor
107: those portions of the derivative material included in the new work.
108: <p>
1.12 deraadt 109:
1.1 grr 110: Copyright law admits to three general categories of works:
111: <dl>
1.14 jufi 112: <dt>Original Work
1.1 grr 113: <dd>A new work that is not derived from an existing work.
114: <dt>Derivative Work
115: <dd>Work that is derived from, includes or amends existing works.
116: <dt>Compilations
117: <dd>A work that is a compilation of existing new and derivative works.
118: </dl>
1.12 deraadt 119: <p>
120:
1.1 grr 121: The fundamental concept is that there is primacy of the copyright, that
1.10 espie 122: is a copyright of a derivative work does not affect the rights held by
1.1 grr 123: the owner of the copyright of the original work, rather only the part
124: added. Likewise the copyright of a compilation does not affect the rights
125: of the owner of the included works, only the compilation as an entity.
126: <p>
1.12 deraadt 127:
1.1 grr 128: It is vitally important to understand that copyrights are broad protections
1.3 grr 129: as defined by national and international copyright law. The "copyright
130: notices" usually included in source files are not copyrights, but rather
131: notices that a party asserts that they hold copyright to the material or
1.5 todd 132: to part of the material. Typically these notices are associated with
1.3 grr 133: license terms which grant permissions subject to copyright law and with
134: disclaimers that state the position of the copyright holder/distributor
135: with respect to liability surrounding use of the material.
1.12 deraadt 136: <p>
137:
1.18 ! jufi 138: <li><h3><font color="#e00000">Permissions - the flip side</font></h3><p>
1.12 deraadt 139:
1.1 grr 140: Because copyrights arise from the creation of a work, rather than through
1.3 grr 141: a registration process, there needs to be a practical way to extend
1.16 jufi 142: permission to use a work beyond what might be allowed by "fair use"
1.1 grr 143: provisions of the copyright laws.
1.12 deraadt 144: <p>
145:
1.1 grr 146: This permission typically takes the form of a "release" or "license"
147: included in the work, which grants the additional uses beyond those
148: granted by copyright law, usually subject to a variety of conditions.
1.3 grr 149: At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator asserts that
150: he imposes no restrictions on use of the material, at the other
151: restrictive clauses that actually grant no additional rights or impose
152: restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on use of the work.
1.1 grr 153: <p>
1.12 deraadt 154:
1.3 grr 155: Again, an important point to note is that the release and conditions can
1.1 grr 156: only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright
157: holder - the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither
1.3 grr 158: grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more
159: restrictive conditions for use of that work.
1.1 grr 160: <p>
1.12 deraadt 161:
1.3 grr 162: Because copyright arises from the creation of a work and not the text
163: or a registration process, removing or altering a copyright notice or
1.10 espie 164: associated release terms has no bearing on the existence of the copyright,
1.3 grr 165: rather all that is accomplished to whatever rights the person making the
166: modifications had to use the material in the first place. Likewise, adding
167: terms and conditions in conflict with the original terms and conditions
1.10 espie 168: does not supersede them, rather it casts doubts on the rights of the person
1.3 grr 169: making the amendments to use the material and creates confusion as to
1.5 todd 170: whether anyone can use amended version or derivatives thereof.
1.1 grr 171: <p>
1.12 deraadt 172:
1.1 grr 173: Finally, releases are generally binding on the material that they
174: are distributed with. This means that if the originator of a work distributes
175: that work with a release granting certain permissions, those permissions
176: apply as stated, without discrimination, to all persons legitimately
177: possessing a copy of the work. That means that having granted a permission,
178: the copyright holder can not retroactively say that an individual or class
179: of individuals are no longer granted those permissions. Likewise should
180: the copyright holder decide to "go commercial" he can not revoke permissions
181: already granted for the use of the work as distributed, though he may impose
182: more restrictive permissions in his future distributions of that work.
183: <p>
1.12 deraadt 184:
1.18 ! jufi 185: <li><h3><font color="#e00000">Specific Cases</font></h3><p>
1.12 deraadt 186:
1.1 grr 187: This section attempts to summarize the position of OpenBSD relative to
188: some commonly encountered copyrights.
1.12 deraadt 189: <p>
190:
1.1 grr 191: <dl>
192: <dt>Berkeley<dd><p>
193: The Berkeley copyright is the model for the OpenBSD copyright. It retains
194: the rights of the copyright holder, while imposing minimal conditions on
195: the use of the copyrighted material. Material with Berkeley copyrights,
1.3 grr 196: or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be
197: included in OpenBSD.
1.12 deraadt 198: <p>
199:
1.1 grr 200: <dt>AT&T<dd><p>
1.11 millert 201: While AT&T holds the copyrights to much "Unix" code and documentation,
1.2 grr 202: OpenBSD is based largely on Berkeley (BSD) distributions that contain only
1.1 grr 203: material known to be free of AT&T copyrights, or material to which
1.10 espie 204: AT&T has abandoned its copyright or included licensing terms similar
1.1 grr 205: to the Berkeley terms. No material subject to restrictive AT&T
206: copyrights can be included in OpenBSD.
1.3 grr 207: <p>
1.12 deraadt 208:
1.3 grr 209: Examples of AT&T code, included subject to non-restrictive copyrights,
210: include some system sources such as init_main.c and the AT&T version
211: of awk.
1.12 deraadt 212: <p>
213:
1.1 grr 214: <dt>DEC, Sun, other manufacturers/software houses.<dd><p>
215: In general OpenBSD does not include material copyrighted by manufacturers
216: or software houses. Material may be included where the copyright owner has
217: granted general permission for reuse without conditions, with terms similar
218: to the Berkeley copyright, or where the material is the product of an
1.8 d 219: employee and the employer's copyright notice effectively releases any
1.1 grr 220: rights they might have to the work.
1.12 deraadt 221: <p>
222:
1.1 grr 223: <dt>Carnegie-Mellon (CMU, Mach)<dd><p>
224: The Carnegie-Mellon copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
225: that it requests that derivative works be made available to Carnegie-Mellon.
226: Because this is only a request and not a condition, such material can still
227: be included in OpenBSD. It should be noted that existing versions of Mach
228: are still subject to AT&T copyrights, which prevents the general
229: distribution of Mach sources.
1.12 deraadt 230: <p>
231:
1.11 millert 232: <dt>Apache<dd><p>
233: The Apache copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
234: that it stipulates that products derived from the code may not
235: have "Apache" in their name. The purpose of this clause is to
236: avoid a situation in which another party releases a modified version
237: of the code named in such a way to make users think that it is the
238: "official" version. This is not an issue with OpenBSD because
239: OpenBSD is a <strong>Compilation</strong>, and not a
240: <strong>Derived Work</strong>.
1.12 deraadt 241: <p>
242:
1.3 grr 243: <dt>GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc.<dd><p>
1.1 grr 244: The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction
245: that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that
1.3 grr 246: are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code.
247: <p>
1.12 deraadt 248:
1.3 grr 249: While this may be a noble strategy in terms of software sharing, it is a
250: condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software.
251: As a consequence, software bound by the GPL terms can not be included in
1.7 deraadt 252: the kernel or "runtime" of OpenBSD, though software subject to GPL terms
1.8 d 253: may be included as development tools or as part of the system that are
1.3 grr 254: "optional" as long as such use does not result in OpenBSD as a whole
255: becoming subject to the GPL terms.
256: <p>
1.12 deraadt 257:
1.3 grr 258: As an example, some ports include GNU Floating Point Emulation - this is
259: optional and the system can be built without it or with an alternative
1.8 d 260: emulation package. Another example is the use of GCC and other GNU tools in
1.3 grr 261: the OpenBSD tool chain - it is quite possible to distribute a system for
262: many applications without a tool chain, or the distributor can choose to
1.8 d 263: include a tool chain as an optional bundle which conforms to the GPL terms.
1.3 grr 264: <p>
1.12 deraadt 265:
1.1 grr 266: <dt>NetBSD<dd><p>
1.5 todd 267: Much of OpenBSD is originally based on and evolved from NetBSD, since some
1.3 grr 268: of the OpenBSD developers were involved in the NetBSD project. The general
269: NetBSD license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit
270: such use. Material subject <strong>only</strong> to the general NetBSD
271: license can generally be included in OpenBSD.
272: <p>
1.12 deraadt 273:
1.11 millert 274: In the past, NetBSD has included material copyrighted by individuals
275: who have imposed license conditions beyond that of the general
276: NetBSD license, but granted the NetBSD Foundation license to
277: distribute the material. Such material can not be included in
278: OpenBSD as long as the conditions imposed are at odds with the
279: OpenBSD license terms or releases from those terms are offered on
280: a discriminatory basis.
1.12 deraadt 281: <p>
282:
1.1 grr 283: <dt>FreeBSD<dd><p>
1.3 grr 284: Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or includes
1.2 grr 285: copyright notices based on the Berkeley model. Such material can be
1.3 grr 286: included in OpenBSD, while those parts that are subject to GPL or
287: various individual copyright terms that are at odds with the OpenBSD license
288: can not be included in OpenBSD.
1.12 deraadt 289: <p>
290:
1.1 grr 291: <dt>Linux<dd><p>
292: Most of Linux is subject to GPL style licensing terms and therefore
1.2 grr 293: can not be included in OpenBSD. Individual components may be eligible,
1.1 grr 294: subject to the terms of the originator's copyright notices. Note that
1.8 d 295: Linux "distributions" may also be subject to additional copyright claims
1.1 grr 296: of the distributing organization, either as a compilation or on material
1.3 grr 297: included that is not part of the Linux core.
1.12 deraadt 298: <p>
299:
1.3 grr 300: <dt>X, XFree86<dd><p>
1.8 d 301: X and XFree86 are not parts of OpenBSD, rather X or XFree86 is distributed
1.3 grr 302: with many OpenBSD ports as a convenience to the user, subject to applicable
303: license terms.
1.12 deraadt 304: <p>
305:
1.1 grr 306: <dt>Shareware, Charityware, Freeware, etc.<dd><p>
307: Most "shareware" copyright notices impose conditions for redistribution,
308: use or visibility that are at conflict with the OpenBSD project goals.
309: Review on a case-by-case basis is required as to whether the wording
1.2 grr 310: of the conditions is acceptable in terms of conditions being requested vs.
1.1 grr 311: demanded and whether the spirit of the conditions is compatible with
1.2 grr 312: goals of the OpenBSD project.
1.12 deraadt 313: <p>
314:
1.1 grr 315: <dt>Public Domain<dd><p>
316: While material that is truly entered into the "Public Domain" can be
317: included in OpenBSD, review is required on a case by case basis.
1.3 grr 318: Frequently the "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does
319: not really hold all rights under Copyright law to grant that status or
1.1 grr 320: there are a variety of conditions imposed on use. For a work to be
1.3 grr 321: truly in the "Public Domain" all rights are abandoned and the material
322: is offered without restrictions.
1.12 deraadt 323: <p>
324:
325: </dl>
326:
1.18 ! jufi 327: </ul>
1.1 grr 328:
329: <hr>
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