Annotation of www/policy.html, Revision 1.45
1.43 bentley 1: <!doctype html>
2: <html lang=en>
3: <meta charset=utf-8>
4:
1.38 tj 5: <title>OpenBSD: Copyright Policy</title>
1.36 tb 6: <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
7: <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="openbsd.css">
1.39 tb 8: <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.openbsd.org/policy.html">
1.1 grr 9:
1.43 bentley 10: <style>
11: h3 {
12: color: var(--red);
13: }
14: </style>
1.1 grr 15:
1.43 bentley 16: <h2 id=OpenBSD>
1.37 tb 17: <a href="index.html">
1.43 bentley 18: <i>Open</i><b>BSD</b></a>
19: Copyright Policy
1.36 tb 20: </h2>
1.43 bentley 21:
1.36 tb 22: <hr>
1.12 deraadt 23:
1.43 bentley 24: <h3>Goal</h3>
1.1 grr 25:
1.43 bentley 26: <p>
27: Copyright law is complex, OpenBSD policy is simple — OpenBSD strives to
1.29 schwarze 28: provide code that can be freely used, copied, modified, and distributed
29: by anyone and for any purpose. This maintains the spirit of the original
30: Berkeley Software Distribution. The preferred wording of a license to be
31: applied to new code can be found in the
1.42 bentley 32: <a href="https://cvsweb.openbsd.org/src/share/misc/license.template?rev=HEAD">license template</a>.
1.43 bentley 33:
1.1 grr 34: <p>
1.3 grr 35: OpenBSD can exist as it does today because of the example set by the
36: Computer Systems Research Group at Berkeley and the battles which they
1.29 schwarze 37: and others fought to create a Unix source distribution un-encumbered
38: by proprietary code and commercial licensing.
1.43 bentley 39:
1.3 grr 40: <p>
1.11 millert 41: The ability of a <strong>freely redistributable</strong> "Berkeley" Unix
1.3 grr 42: to move forward on a competitive basis with other operating systems depends
43: on the willingness of the various development groups to exchange code amongst
44: themselves and with other projects.
1.4 deraadt 45: Understanding the legal issues surrounding copyright is fundamental to
1.3 grr 46: the ability to exchange and re-distribute code, while honoring the spirit of
47: the copyright and concept of attribution is fundamental to promoting the
48: cooperation of the people involved.
1.12 deraadt 49:
1.43 bentley 50: <h3>The Berkeley Copyright</h3>
1.12 deraadt 51:
1.43 bentley 52: <p>
1.29 schwarze 53: The original Berkeley copyright poses no restrictions on private or commercial
1.1 grr 54: use of the software and imposes only simple and uniform requirements
55: for maintaining copyright notices in redistributed versions and
56: crediting the originator of the material <strong>only</strong> in
57: advertising.
58: <p>
1.13 deraadt 59: For instance:
60: <p>
61: <pre>
62: * Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1993
63: * The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
64: *
65: * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
66: * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
67: * are met:
68: * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
69: * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
70: * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
71: * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
72: * documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
73: * 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
74: * must display the following acknowledgement:
75: * This product includes software developed by the University of
76: * California, Berkeley and its contributors.
77: * 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
78: * may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
79: * without specific prior written permission.
80: *
81: * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
82: * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
83: * IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
84: * ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
85: * FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
86: * DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
87: * OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
88: * HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
89: * LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
90: * OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
91: * SUCH DAMAGE.
92: *
93: </pre>
94: <p>
1.19 millert 95: Berkeley rescinded the 3rd term (the advertising term) on 22 July 1999.
96: Verbatim copies of the Berkeley license in the OpenBSD tree have that
97: term removed. In addition, many 3rd-party BSD-style licenses consist
98: solely of the first two terms.
1.13 deraadt 99: <p>
1.3 grr 100: Because the OpenBSD copyright imposes no conditions beyond those
101: imposed by the Berkeley copyright, OpenBSD can hope to share the same
102: wide distribution and applicability as the Berkeley distributions.
1.19 millert 103: It follows however, that OpenBSD cannot include material which
1.3 grr 104: includes copyrights which are more restrictive than the Berkeley
105: copyright, or must relegate this material to a secondary status,
106: i.e. OpenBSD as a whole is freely redistributable, but some optional
107: components may not be.
1.43 bentley 108:
109: <h3>Copyright Law</h3>
110:
1.3 grr 111: <p>
1.1 grr 112: While the overall subject of copyright law is far beyond the scope of
1.2 grr 113: this document, some basics are in order. Under the current copyright law,
1.1 grr 114: copyrights are implicit in the creation of a new work and reside with
1.29 schwarze 115: the creator. In general the copyright applies
1.1 grr 116: only to the new work, not the material the work was derived from, nor
117: those portions of the derivative material included in the new work.
1.43 bentley 118:
1.1 grr 119: <p>
120: Copyright law admits to three general categories of works:
121: <dl>
1.14 jufi 122: <dt>Original Work
1.1 grr 123: <dd>A new work that is not derived from an existing work.
124: <dt>Derivative Work
125: <dd>Work that is derived from, includes or amends existing works.
1.44 schwarze 126: <dt>Compilation
1.1 grr 127: <dd>A work that is a compilation of existing new and derivative works.
128: </dl>
1.43 bentley 129:
1.12 deraadt 130: <p>
1.1 grr 131: The fundamental concept is that there is primacy of the copyright, that
1.10 espie 132: is a copyright of a derivative work does not affect the rights held by
1.1 grr 133: the owner of the copyright of the original work, rather only the part
134: added. Likewise the copyright of a compilation does not affect the rights
135: of the owner of the included works, only the compilation as an entity.
1.43 bentley 136:
1.1 grr 137: <p>
138: It is vitally important to understand that copyrights are broad protections
1.3 grr 139: as defined by national and international copyright law. The "copyright
140: notices" usually included in source files are not copyrights, but rather
141: notices that a party asserts that they hold copyright to the material or
1.5 todd 142: to part of the material. Typically these notices are associated with
1.3 grr 143: license terms which grant permissions subject to copyright law and with
144: disclaimers that state the position of the copyright holder/distributor
145: with respect to liability surrounding use of the material.
1.43 bentley 146:
1.12 deraadt 147: <p>
1.29 schwarze 148: By international law, specifically the Berne Convention for the
149: Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, part of the author's
150: copyright, the so-called moral rights, are inalienable. This
151: includes the author's right "to claim authorship of the work and
152: to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of,
153: or other derogatory action in relation to, the said work, which
154: would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation". In some countries,
155: the law reserves additional inalienable moral rights to the author.
156: On the other hand, the author is free to transfer other parts
157: of his copyright, the so-called economic rights, in particular the
158: rights to use, copy, modify, distribute, and license the work.
159:
1.43 bentley 160: <h3>Permissions — the flip side</h3>
1.12 deraadt 161:
1.43 bentley 162: <p>
1.1 grr 163: Because copyrights arise from the creation of a work, rather than through
1.3 grr 164: a registration process, there needs to be a practical way to extend
1.16 jufi 165: permission to use a work beyond what might be allowed by "fair use"
1.1 grr 166: provisions of the copyright laws.
1.43 bentley 167:
1.12 deraadt 168: <p>
1.1 grr 169: This permission typically takes the form of a "release" or "license"
170: included in the work, which grants the additional uses beyond those
171: granted by copyright law, usually subject to a variety of conditions.
1.3 grr 172: At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator asserts that
173: he imposes no restrictions on use of the material, at the other
174: restrictive clauses that actually grant no additional rights or impose
175: restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on use of the work.
1.43 bentley 176:
1.1 grr 177: <p>
1.29 schwarze 178: Note that a license is not to be confused with a copyright transfer.
1.31 naddy 179: While a transfer would give the new copyright holder <em>exclusive</em>
1.29 schwarze 180: rights to use the code and take these rights away from the author,
181: a license typically grants <em>additional</em> people non-exclusive
182: rights to use the code, while the authors retain all their rights.
1.43 bentley 183:
1.29 schwarze 184: <p>
185: The above observations regarding moral rights imply that putting
186: code under an ISC or two-clause BSD license essentially makes the
187: code as free as it can possibly get. Modifying the wording of these
188: licenses can only result in one of the three following effects:
1.43 bentley 189:
1.29 schwarze 190: <ul>
191: <li>making the code less free by adding additional restrictions
192: regarding its use, copying, modification or distribution;
193: <li>or effectively not changing anything by merely changing the wording,
194: but not changing anything substantial regarding the legal content;
195: <li>or making the license illegal by attempting to deprive the
196: authors of rights they cannot legally give away.
1.43 bentley 197: </ul>
1.12 deraadt 198:
1.43 bentley 199: <p>
1.3 grr 200: Again, an important point to note is that the release and conditions can
1.1 grr 201: only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright
1.31 naddy 202: holder—the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither
1.3 grr 203: grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more
204: restrictive conditions for use of that work.
1.43 bentley 205:
1.1 grr 206: <p>
1.3 grr 207: Because copyright arises from the creation of a work and not the text
208: or a registration process, removing or altering a copyright notice or
1.10 espie 209: associated release terms has no bearing on the existence of the copyright,
1.20 jmc 210: rather all that is accomplished is to cast doubt upon whatever rights the
211: person making the modifications had to use the material in the first place.
212: Likewise, adding terms and conditions in conflict with the original terms
213: and conditions does not supersede them, rather it casts doubts on the rights
214: of the person making the amendments to use the material and creates confusion
215: as to whether anyone can use the amended version or derivatives thereof.
1.43 bentley 216:
1.1 grr 217: <p>
218: Finally, releases are generally binding on the material that they
219: are distributed with. This means that if the originator of a work distributes
220: that work with a release granting certain permissions, those permissions
221: apply as stated, without discrimination, to all persons legitimately
222: possessing a copy of the work. That means that having granted a permission,
223: the copyright holder can not retroactively say that an individual or class
224: of individuals are no longer granted those permissions. Likewise should
225: the copyright holder decide to "go commercial" he can not revoke permissions
226: already granted for the use of the work as distributed, though he may impose
227: more restrictive permissions in his future distributions of that work.
1.12 deraadt 228:
1.43 bentley 229: <h3>Specific Cases</h3>
1.12 deraadt 230:
1.43 bentley 231: <p>
1.1 grr 232: This section attempts to summarize the position of OpenBSD relative to
233: some commonly encountered copyrights.
1.12 deraadt 234:
1.1 grr 235: <dl>
236: <dt>Berkeley<dd><p>
237: The Berkeley copyright is the model for the OpenBSD copyright. It retains
238: the rights of the copyright holder, while imposing minimal conditions on
239: the use of the copyrighted material. Material with Berkeley copyrights,
1.3 grr 240: or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be
241: included in OpenBSD.
1.12 deraadt 242: <p>
243:
1.1 grr 244: <dt>AT&T<dd><p>
1.19 millert 245: As part of its settlement with AT&T, Berkeley included an
246: AT&T copyright notice on some of the files in 4.4BSD lite and lite2.
247: The terms of this license are identical to the standard Berkeley license.
248: <p>
249: Additionally, OpenBSD includes some other AT&T code with non-restrictive
250: copyrights, such as the reference implementation of
1.45 ! tj 251: <a href="https://github.com/onetrueawk/awk">awk</a>.
1.19 millert 252: <p>
253:
254: <dt>Caldera<dd><p>
1.28 schwarze 255: The original Unix code (AT&T versions 1 through 7 UNIX, including 32V)
256: was freed by Caldera, Inc. on 23 January 2002 and is now available under a
1.19 millert 257: <a href="http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Caldera-license.pdf">4-term BSD-style license</a>.
1.28 schwarze 258: As a result, it would theoretically be possible to incorporate original
1.31 naddy 259: Unix code into OpenBSD. However, that code is now so old that it does not
1.28 schwarze 260: satisfy today's interface and quality standards.
1.12 deraadt 261: <p>
262:
1.1 grr 263: <dt>DEC, Sun, other manufacturers/software houses.<dd><p>
264: In general OpenBSD does not include material copyrighted by manufacturers
265: or software houses. Material may be included where the copyright owner has
266: granted general permission for reuse without conditions, with terms similar
267: to the Berkeley copyright, or where the material is the product of an
1.8 d 268: employee and the employer's copyright notice effectively releases any
1.1 grr 269: rights they might have to the work.
1.12 deraadt 270: <p>
271:
1.1 grr 272: <dt>Carnegie-Mellon (CMU, Mach)<dd><p>
273: The Carnegie-Mellon copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
274: that it requests that derivative works be made available to Carnegie-Mellon.
275: Because this is only a request and not a condition, such material can still
276: be included in OpenBSD. It should be noted that existing versions of Mach
277: are still subject to AT&T copyrights, which prevents the general
278: distribution of Mach sources.
1.12 deraadt 279: <p>
280:
1.11 millert 281: <dt>Apache<dd><p>
1.28 schwarze 282: The original Apache license was similar to the Berkeley license,
283: but source code published under version 2 of the Apache license is
284: subject to additional restrictions and cannot be included into OpenBSD.
1.41 schwarze 285: In particular, if you use code under the Apache 2 license, some of
286: your rights will terminate if you claim in court that the code
287: violates a patent.
288: <p>
289:
290: A license can only be considered fully permissive if it allows use
291: by anyone for all the future without giving up any of their rights.
292: If there are conditions that might terminate any rights in the
293: future, or if you have to give up a right that you would otherwise
294: have, even if exercising that right could reasonably be regarded
295: as morally objectionable, the code is not free.
296: <p>
297:
298: In addition, the clause about the patent license is problematic because
299: a patent license cannot be granted under Copyright law, but only under
300: contract law, which drags the whole license into the domain of contract
301: law. But while Copyright law is somewhat standardized by international
302: agreements, contract law differs wildly among jurisdictions. So what
303: the license means in different jurisdictions may vary and is hard to
304: predict.
1.12 deraadt 305: <p>
306:
1.19 millert 307: <dt>ISC<dd><p>
308: The ISC copyright is functionally equivalent to a two-term BSD
309: copyright with language removed that is made unnecessary by the
310: Berne convention. This is the preferred license for new code
1.30 schwarze 311: incorporated into OpenBSD. A sample license is available in the file
1.42 bentley 312: <a href="https://cvsweb.openbsd.org/src/share/misc/license.template?rev=HEAD">/usr/share/misc/license.template</a>.
1.19 millert 313: <p>
314:
1.3 grr 315: <dt>GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc.<dd><p>
1.1 grr 316: The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction
317: that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that
1.3 grr 318: are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code.
1.28 schwarze 319:
1.3 grr 320: <p>
1.28 schwarze 321: While this may superficially look like a noble strategy, it is a
322: condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software.
323: So in practice, it usually ends up hindering free sharing and reuse
324: of code and ideas rather than encouraging it.
325: As a consequence, no additional software bound by the GPL terms
326: will be considered for inclusion into the OpenBSD base system.
1.12 deraadt 327:
1.3 grr 328: <p>
1.28 schwarze 329: For historical reasons, the OpenBSD base system still includes the
330: following GPL-licensed components: the GNU compiler collection (GCC)
1.33 nick 331: with supporting binutils and libraries, GNU CVS, GNU texinfo,
332: the mkhybrid file system creation tool, and the
1.28 schwarze 333: readline library. Replacement by equivalent, more freely licensed
334: tools is a long-term desideratum.
1.3 grr 335: <p>
1.12 deraadt 336:
1.1 grr 337: <dt>NetBSD<dd><p>
1.5 todd 338: Much of OpenBSD is originally based on and evolved from NetBSD, since some
1.3 grr 339: of the OpenBSD developers were involved in the NetBSD project. The general
340: NetBSD license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit
341: such use. Material subject <strong>only</strong> to the general NetBSD
342: license can generally be included in OpenBSD.
343: <p>
1.12 deraadt 344:
1.11 millert 345: In the past, NetBSD has included material copyrighted by individuals
346: who have imposed license conditions beyond that of the general
347: NetBSD license, but granted the NetBSD Foundation license to
348: distribute the material. Such material can not be included in
349: OpenBSD as long as the conditions imposed are at odds with the
350: OpenBSD license terms or releases from those terms are offered on
351: a discriminatory basis.
1.12 deraadt 352: <p>
353:
1.1 grr 354: <dt>FreeBSD<dd><p>
1.3 grr 355: Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or includes
1.2 grr 356: copyright notices based on the Berkeley model. Such material can be
1.3 grr 357: included in OpenBSD, while those parts that are subject to GPL or
358: various individual copyright terms that are at odds with the OpenBSD license
359: can not be included in OpenBSD.
1.12 deraadt 360: <p>
361:
1.1 grr 362: <dt>Linux<dd><p>
363: Most of Linux is subject to GPL style licensing terms and therefore
1.2 grr 364: can not be included in OpenBSD. Individual components may be eligible,
1.1 grr 365: subject to the terms of the originator's copyright notices. Note that
1.8 d 366: Linux "distributions" may also be subject to additional copyright claims
1.1 grr 367: of the distributing organization, either as a compilation or on material
1.3 grr 368: included that is not part of the Linux core.
1.12 deraadt 369: <p>
370:
1.28 schwarze 371: <dt>X.Org<dd><p>
372: The X.Org Foundation maintains and distributes the X Window System
373: under a modified MIT license, which is quite similar to the BSD
374: license and additionally allows sublicensing. Under the name of
375: Xenocara, the OpenBSD base system includes an improved and actively
376: maintained version of the X.Org code.
1.12 deraadt 377: <p>
378:
1.1 grr 379: <dt>Shareware, Charityware, Freeware, etc.<dd><p>
380: Most "shareware" copyright notices impose conditions for redistribution,
381: use or visibility that are at conflict with the OpenBSD project goals.
382: Review on a case-by-case basis is required as to whether the wording
1.2 grr 383: of the conditions is acceptable in terms of conditions being requested vs.
1.1 grr 384: demanded and whether the spirit of the conditions is compatible with
1.2 grr 385: goals of the OpenBSD project.
1.12 deraadt 386: <p>
387:
1.1 grr 388: <dt>Public Domain<dd><p>
1.31 naddy 389: While material that is truly entered into the "public domain" can be
1.1 grr 390: included in OpenBSD, review is required on a case by case basis.
1.3 grr 391: Frequently the "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does
1.31 naddy 392: not really hold all rights under copyright law to grant that status or
1.1 grr 393: there are a variety of conditions imposed on use. For a work to be
1.31 naddy 394: truly in the "public domain" all rights are abandoned and the material
1.3 grr 395: is offered without restrictions.
1.12 deraadt 396: <p>
1.28 schwarze 397:
398: In some jurisdictions, it is doubtful whether voluntarily placing
399: one's own work into the public domain is legally possible.
400: For that reason, to make any substantial body of code free,
401: it is preferable to state the copyright and put it under an ISC
402: or BSD license instead of attempting to release it into the public
403: domain.
1.12 deraadt 404:
405: </dl>
![[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