Annotation of www/policy.html, Revision 1.34
1.18 jufi 1: <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
1.1 grr 2: <html>
3: <head>
4: <title>OpenBSD Copyright Policy</title>
5: <meta name="resource-type" content="document">
1.18 jufi 6: <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
1.1 grr 7: <meta name="description" content="the OpenBSD copyright policy page">
8: <meta name="keywords" content="openbsd,copyright">
9: <meta name="distribution" content="global">
1.26 lum 10: <meta name="copyright" content="This document copyright 1996-2012 by OpenBSD.">
1.34 ! sthen 11: <link rel="canonical" href="http://www.openbsd.org/policy.html">
1.1 grr 12: </head>
13:
1.18 jufi 14: <body bgcolor="#ffffff" text="#000000" link="#23238e">
1.1 grr 15:
1.17 jsyn 16: <a href="index.html"><img alt="[OpenBSD]" height="30" width="141" src="images/smalltitle.gif" border="0"></a>
1.12 deraadt 17: <p>
1.18 jufi 18: <h2><font color="#e00000">Copyright Policy</font></h2>
19: <hr>
1.12 deraadt 20:
1.31 naddy 21: <h3><font color="#e00000">Goal</font></h3><p>
1.1 grr 22:
23: Copyright law is complex, OpenBSD policy is simple - OpenBSD strives to
1.29 schwarze 24: provide code that can be freely used, copied, modified, and distributed
25: by anyone and for any purpose. This maintains the spirit of the original
26: Berkeley Software Distribution. The preferred wording of a license to be
27: applied to new code can be found in the
1.32 nick 28: <a href="http://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/share/misc/license.template?rev=HEAD">license template</a>.
1.1 grr 29: <p>
1.12 deraadt 30:
1.3 grr 31: OpenBSD can exist as it does today because of the example set by the
32: Computer Systems Research Group at Berkeley and the battles which they
1.29 schwarze 33: and others fought to create a Unix source distribution un-encumbered
34: by proprietary code and commercial licensing.
1.3 grr 35: <p>
1.12 deraadt 36:
1.11 millert 37: The ability of a <strong>freely redistributable</strong> "Berkeley" Unix
1.3 grr 38: to move forward on a competitive basis with other operating systems depends
39: on the willingness of the various development groups to exchange code amongst
40: themselves and with other projects.
1.4 deraadt 41: Understanding the legal issues surrounding copyright is fundamental to
1.3 grr 42: the ability to exchange and re-distribute code, while honoring the spirit of
43: the copyright and concept of attribution is fundamental to promoting the
44: cooperation of the people involved.
45: <p>
1.12 deraadt 46:
1.31 naddy 47: <h3><font color="#e00000">The Berkeley Copyright</font></h3><p>
1.12 deraadt 48:
1.29 schwarze 49: The original Berkeley copyright poses no restrictions on private or commercial
1.1 grr 50: use of the software and imposes only simple and uniform requirements
51: for maintaining copyright notices in redistributed versions and
52: crediting the originator of the material <strong>only</strong> in
53: advertising.
54: <p>
1.13 deraadt 55: For instance:
56: <p>
57: <pre>
58: * Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1993
59: * The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
60: *
61: * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
62: * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
63: * are met:
64: * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
65: * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
66: * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
67: * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
68: * documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
69: * 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
70: * must display the following acknowledgement:
71: * This product includes software developed by the University of
72: * California, Berkeley and its contributors.
73: * 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
74: * may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
75: * without specific prior written permission.
76: *
77: * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
78: * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
79: * IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
80: * ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
81: * FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
82: * DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
83: * OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
84: * HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
85: * LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
86: * OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
87: * SUCH DAMAGE.
88: *
89: </pre>
90: <p>
1.19 millert 91: Berkeley rescinded the 3rd term (the advertising term) on 22 July 1999.
92: Verbatim copies of the Berkeley license in the OpenBSD tree have that
93: term removed. In addition, many 3rd-party BSD-style licenses consist
94: solely of the first two terms.
1.13 deraadt 95: <p>
1.3 grr 96: Because the OpenBSD copyright imposes no conditions beyond those
97: imposed by the Berkeley copyright, OpenBSD can hope to share the same
98: wide distribution and applicability as the Berkeley distributions.
1.19 millert 99: It follows however, that OpenBSD cannot include material which
1.3 grr 100: includes copyrights which are more restrictive than the Berkeley
101: copyright, or must relegate this material to a secondary status,
102: i.e. OpenBSD as a whole is freely redistributable, but some optional
103: components may not be.
104: <p>
1.12 deraadt 105:
1.31 naddy 106: <h3><font color="#e00000">Copyright Law</font></h3><p>
1.1 grr 107: While the overall subject of copyright law is far beyond the scope of
1.2 grr 108: this document, some basics are in order. Under the current copyright law,
1.1 grr 109: copyrights are implicit in the creation of a new work and reside with
1.29 schwarze 110: the creator. In general the copyright applies
1.1 grr 111: only to the new work, not the material the work was derived from, nor
112: those portions of the derivative material included in the new work.
113: <p>
1.12 deraadt 114:
1.1 grr 115: Copyright law admits to three general categories of works:
116: <dl>
1.14 jufi 117: <dt>Original Work
1.1 grr 118: <dd>A new work that is not derived from an existing work.
119: <dt>Derivative Work
120: <dd>Work that is derived from, includes or amends existing works.
121: <dt>Compilations
122: <dd>A work that is a compilation of existing new and derivative works.
123: </dl>
1.12 deraadt 124: <p>
125:
1.1 grr 126: The fundamental concept is that there is primacy of the copyright, that
1.10 espie 127: is a copyright of a derivative work does not affect the rights held by
1.1 grr 128: the owner of the copyright of the original work, rather only the part
129: added. Likewise the copyright of a compilation does not affect the rights
130: of the owner of the included works, only the compilation as an entity.
131: <p>
1.12 deraadt 132:
1.1 grr 133: It is vitally important to understand that copyrights are broad protections
1.3 grr 134: as defined by national and international copyright law. The "copyright
135: notices" usually included in source files are not copyrights, but rather
136: notices that a party asserts that they hold copyright to the material or
1.5 todd 137: to part of the material. Typically these notices are associated with
1.3 grr 138: license terms which grant permissions subject to copyright law and with
139: disclaimers that state the position of the copyright holder/distributor
140: with respect to liability surrounding use of the material.
1.12 deraadt 141: <p>
142:
1.29 schwarze 143: By international law, specifically the Berne Convention for the
144: Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, part of the author's
145: copyright, the so-called moral rights, are inalienable. This
146: includes the author's right "to claim authorship of the work and
147: to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of,
148: or other derogatory action in relation to, the said work, which
149: would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation". In some countries,
150: the law reserves additional inalienable moral rights to the author.
151: On the other hand, the author is free to transfer other parts
152: of his copyright, the so-called economic rights, in particular the
153: rights to use, copy, modify, distribute, and license the work.
154: <p>
155:
1.31 naddy 156: <h3><font color="#e00000">Permissions - the flip side</font></h3><p>
1.12 deraadt 157:
1.1 grr 158: Because copyrights arise from the creation of a work, rather than through
1.3 grr 159: a registration process, there needs to be a practical way to extend
1.16 jufi 160: permission to use a work beyond what might be allowed by "fair use"
1.1 grr 161: provisions of the copyright laws.
1.12 deraadt 162: <p>
163:
1.1 grr 164: This permission typically takes the form of a "release" or "license"
165: included in the work, which grants the additional uses beyond those
166: granted by copyright law, usually subject to a variety of conditions.
1.3 grr 167: At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator asserts that
168: he imposes no restrictions on use of the material, at the other
169: restrictive clauses that actually grant no additional rights or impose
170: restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on use of the work.
1.1 grr 171: <p>
1.29 schwarze 172:
173: Note that a license is not to be confused with a copyright transfer.
1.31 naddy 174: While a transfer would give the new copyright holder <em>exclusive</em>
1.29 schwarze 175: rights to use the code and take these rights away from the author,
176: a license typically grants <em>additional</em> people non-exclusive
177: rights to use the code, while the authors retain all their rights.
178: <p>
179:
180: The above observations regarding moral rights imply that putting
181: code under an ISC or two-clause BSD license essentially makes the
182: code as free as it can possibly get. Modifying the wording of these
183: licenses can only result in one of the three following effects:
184: <ul>
185: <li>making the code less free by adding additional restrictions
186: regarding its use, copying, modification or distribution;
187: <li>or effectively not changing anything by merely changing the wording,
188: but not changing anything substantial regarding the legal content;
189: <li>or making the license illegal by attempting to deprive the
190: authors of rights they cannot legally give away.
191: </ul><p>
1.12 deraadt 192:
1.3 grr 193: Again, an important point to note is that the release and conditions can
1.1 grr 194: only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright
1.31 naddy 195: holder—the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither
1.3 grr 196: grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more
197: restrictive conditions for use of that work.
1.1 grr 198: <p>
1.12 deraadt 199:
1.3 grr 200: Because copyright arises from the creation of a work and not the text
201: or a registration process, removing or altering a copyright notice or
1.10 espie 202: associated release terms has no bearing on the existence of the copyright,
1.20 jmc 203: rather all that is accomplished is to cast doubt upon whatever rights the
204: person making the modifications had to use the material in the first place.
205: Likewise, adding terms and conditions in conflict with the original terms
206: and conditions does not supersede them, rather it casts doubts on the rights
207: of the person making the amendments to use the material and creates confusion
208: as to whether anyone can use the amended version or derivatives thereof.
1.1 grr 209: <p>
1.12 deraadt 210:
1.1 grr 211: Finally, releases are generally binding on the material that they
212: are distributed with. This means that if the originator of a work distributes
213: that work with a release granting certain permissions, those permissions
214: apply as stated, without discrimination, to all persons legitimately
215: possessing a copy of the work. That means that having granted a permission,
216: the copyright holder can not retroactively say that an individual or class
217: of individuals are no longer granted those permissions. Likewise should
218: the copyright holder decide to "go commercial" he can not revoke permissions
219: already granted for the use of the work as distributed, though he may impose
220: more restrictive permissions in his future distributions of that work.
221: <p>
1.12 deraadt 222:
1.31 naddy 223: <h3><font color="#e00000">Specific Cases</font></h3><p>
1.12 deraadt 224:
1.1 grr 225: This section attempts to summarize the position of OpenBSD relative to
226: some commonly encountered copyrights.
1.12 deraadt 227: <p>
228:
1.1 grr 229: <dl>
230: <dt>Berkeley<dd><p>
231: The Berkeley copyright is the model for the OpenBSD copyright. It retains
232: the rights of the copyright holder, while imposing minimal conditions on
233: the use of the copyrighted material. Material with Berkeley copyrights,
1.3 grr 234: or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be
235: included in OpenBSD.
1.12 deraadt 236: <p>
237:
1.1 grr 238: <dt>AT&T<dd><p>
1.19 millert 239: As part of its settlement with AT&T, Berkeley included an
240: AT&T copyright notice on some of the files in 4.4BSD lite and lite2.
241: The terms of this license are identical to the standard Berkeley license.
242: <p>
243: Additionally, OpenBSD includes some other AT&T code with non-restrictive
244: copyrights, such as the reference implementation of
245: <a href="http://cm.bell-labs.com/cm/cs/who/bwk/awk.tar.gz">awk</a>.
246: <p>
247:
248: <dt>Caldera<dd><p>
1.28 schwarze 249: The original Unix code (AT&T versions 1 through 7 UNIX, including 32V)
250: was freed by Caldera, Inc. on 23 January 2002 and is now available under a
1.19 millert 251: <a href="http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Caldera-license.pdf">4-term BSD-style license</a>.
1.28 schwarze 252: As a result, it would theoretically be possible to incorporate original
1.31 naddy 253: Unix code into OpenBSD. However, that code is now so old that it does not
1.28 schwarze 254: satisfy today's interface and quality standards.
1.12 deraadt 255: <p>
256:
1.1 grr 257: <dt>DEC, Sun, other manufacturers/software houses.<dd><p>
258: In general OpenBSD does not include material copyrighted by manufacturers
259: or software houses. Material may be included where the copyright owner has
260: granted general permission for reuse without conditions, with terms similar
261: to the Berkeley copyright, or where the material is the product of an
1.8 d 262: employee and the employer's copyright notice effectively releases any
1.1 grr 263: rights they might have to the work.
1.12 deraadt 264: <p>
265:
1.1 grr 266: <dt>Carnegie-Mellon (CMU, Mach)<dd><p>
267: The Carnegie-Mellon copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
268: that it requests that derivative works be made available to Carnegie-Mellon.
269: Because this is only a request and not a condition, such material can still
270: be included in OpenBSD. It should be noted that existing versions of Mach
271: are still subject to AT&T copyrights, which prevents the general
272: distribution of Mach sources.
1.12 deraadt 273: <p>
274:
1.11 millert 275: <dt>Apache<dd><p>
1.28 schwarze 276: The original Apache license was similar to the Berkeley license,
277: but source code published under version 2 of the Apache license is
278: subject to additional restrictions and cannot be included into OpenBSD.
1.12 deraadt 279: <p>
280:
1.19 millert 281: <dt>ISC<dd><p>
282: The ISC copyright is functionally equivalent to a two-term BSD
283: copyright with language removed that is made unnecessary by the
284: Berne convention. This is the preferred license for new code
1.30 schwarze 285: incorporated into OpenBSD. A sample license is available in the file
1.32 nick 286: <a href="http://cvsweb.openbsd.org/cgi-bin/cvsweb/src/share/misc/license.template?rev=HEAD">/usr/share/misc/license.template</a>.
1.19 millert 287: <p>
288:
1.3 grr 289: <dt>GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc.<dd><p>
1.1 grr 290: The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction
291: that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that
1.3 grr 292: are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code.
1.28 schwarze 293:
1.3 grr 294: <p>
1.28 schwarze 295: While this may superficially look like a noble strategy, it is a
296: condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software.
297: So in practice, it usually ends up hindering free sharing and reuse
298: of code and ideas rather than encouraging it.
299: As a consequence, no additional software bound by the GPL terms
300: will be considered for inclusion into the OpenBSD base system.
1.12 deraadt 301:
1.3 grr 302: <p>
1.28 schwarze 303: For historical reasons, the OpenBSD base system still includes the
304: following GPL-licensed components: the GNU compiler collection (GCC)
1.33 nick 305: with supporting binutils and libraries, GNU CVS, GNU texinfo,
306: the mkhybrid file system creation tool, and the
1.28 schwarze 307: readline library. Replacement by equivalent, more freely licensed
308: tools is a long-term desideratum.
1.3 grr 309: <p>
1.12 deraadt 310:
1.1 grr 311: <dt>NetBSD<dd><p>
1.5 todd 312: Much of OpenBSD is originally based on and evolved from NetBSD, since some
1.3 grr 313: of the OpenBSD developers were involved in the NetBSD project. The general
314: NetBSD license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit
315: such use. Material subject <strong>only</strong> to the general NetBSD
316: license can generally be included in OpenBSD.
317: <p>
1.12 deraadt 318:
1.11 millert 319: In the past, NetBSD has included material copyrighted by individuals
320: who have imposed license conditions beyond that of the general
321: NetBSD license, but granted the NetBSD Foundation license to
322: distribute the material. Such material can not be included in
323: OpenBSD as long as the conditions imposed are at odds with the
324: OpenBSD license terms or releases from those terms are offered on
325: a discriminatory basis.
1.12 deraadt 326: <p>
327:
1.1 grr 328: <dt>FreeBSD<dd><p>
1.3 grr 329: Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or includes
1.2 grr 330: copyright notices based on the Berkeley model. Such material can be
1.3 grr 331: included in OpenBSD, while those parts that are subject to GPL or
332: various individual copyright terms that are at odds with the OpenBSD license
333: can not be included in OpenBSD.
1.12 deraadt 334: <p>
335:
1.1 grr 336: <dt>Linux<dd><p>
337: Most of Linux is subject to GPL style licensing terms and therefore
1.2 grr 338: can not be included in OpenBSD. Individual components may be eligible,
1.1 grr 339: subject to the terms of the originator's copyright notices. Note that
1.8 d 340: Linux "distributions" may also be subject to additional copyright claims
1.1 grr 341: of the distributing organization, either as a compilation or on material
1.3 grr 342: included that is not part of the Linux core.
1.12 deraadt 343: <p>
344:
1.28 schwarze 345: <dt>X.Org<dd><p>
346: The X.Org Foundation maintains and distributes the X Window System
347: under a modified MIT license, which is quite similar to the BSD
348: license and additionally allows sublicensing. Under the name of
349: Xenocara, the OpenBSD base system includes an improved and actively
350: maintained version of the X.Org code.
1.12 deraadt 351: <p>
352:
1.1 grr 353: <dt>Shareware, Charityware, Freeware, etc.<dd><p>
354: Most "shareware" copyright notices impose conditions for redistribution,
355: use or visibility that are at conflict with the OpenBSD project goals.
356: Review on a case-by-case basis is required as to whether the wording
1.2 grr 357: of the conditions is acceptable in terms of conditions being requested vs.
1.1 grr 358: demanded and whether the spirit of the conditions is compatible with
1.2 grr 359: goals of the OpenBSD project.
1.12 deraadt 360: <p>
361:
1.1 grr 362: <dt>Public Domain<dd><p>
1.31 naddy 363: While material that is truly entered into the "public domain" can be
1.1 grr 364: included in OpenBSD, review is required on a case by case basis.
1.3 grr 365: Frequently the "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does
1.31 naddy 366: not really hold all rights under copyright law to grant that status or
1.1 grr 367: there are a variety of conditions imposed on use. For a work to be
1.31 naddy 368: truly in the "public domain" all rights are abandoned and the material
1.3 grr 369: is offered without restrictions.
1.12 deraadt 370: <p>
1.28 schwarze 371:
372: In some jurisdictions, it is doubtful whether voluntarily placing
373: one's own work into the public domain is legally possible.
374: For that reason, to make any substantial body of code free,
375: it is preferable to state the copyright and put it under an ISC
376: or BSD license instead of attempting to release it into the public
377: domain.
1.12 deraadt 378:
379: </dl>
1.1 grr 380:
381: </body>
382: </html>
![[BACK]](/icons/back.gif){kind=icon}
Return to policy.html CVS log ![[TXT]](/icons/text.gif){kind=icon}
![[DIR]](/icons/dir.gif){kind=icon}
Up to [local] / www