Annotation of www/policy.html, Revision 1.7
1.1 grr 1: <!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//IETF//DTD HTML Strict//EN">
2: <html>
3: <head>
4: <title>OpenBSD Copyright Policy</title>
5: <link rev=made href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>
6: <meta name="resource-type" content="document">
7: <meta name="description" content="the OpenBSD copyright policy page">
8: <meta name="keywords" content="openbsd,copyright">
9: <meta name="distribution" content="global">
10: <meta name="copyright" content="This document copyright 1996 by OpenBSD.">
11: </head>
12:
13: <BODY BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#000000" LINK="#23238E">
14:
15: <img alt="[OpenBSD]" SRC="images/smalltitle.gif">
16:
1.6 deraadt 17: <h1><font color=#e00000>OpenBSD Copyright Policy</font></h1>
1.1 grr 18: <p>
19: Copyright law is complex, OpenBSD policy is simple - OpenBSD strives to
1.3 grr 20: maintain the spirit of the original Berkeley unix copyrights.
1.1 grr 21: </p>
22: <p>
1.3 grr 23: OpenBSD can exist as it does today because of the example set by the
24: Computer Systems Research Group at Berkeley and the battles which they
25: and others fought to create a relatively un-encumbered unix source
26: distribution.
27: </p>
28: <p>
29: The ability of a <strong>freely redistributable</strong> "Berkeley" unix
30: to move forward on a competitive basis with other operating systems depends
31: on the willingness of the various development groups to exchange code amongst
32: themselves and with other projects.
33:
1.4 deraadt 34: Understanding the legal issues surrounding copyright is fundamental to
1.3 grr 35: the ability to exchange and re-distribute code, while honoring the spirit of
36: the copyright and concept of attribution is fundamental to promoting the
37: cooperation of the people involved.
38: </p>
39: <p>
1.6 deraadt 40: <h3><font color=#0000e0>The Berkeley Copyright</font></h3>
1.1 grr 41: The Berkeley copyright poses no restrictions on private or commercial
42: use of the software and imposes only simple and uniform requirements
43: for maintaining copyright notices in redistributed versions and
44: crediting the originator of the material <strong>only</strong> in
45: advertising.
46: </p>
47: <p>
1.3 grr 48: Because the OpenBSD copyright imposes no conditions beyond those
49: imposed by the Berkeley copyright, OpenBSD can hope to share the same
50: wide distribution and applicability as the Berkeley distributions.
51: It follows however, that OpenBSD can not include material which
52: includes copyrights which are more restrictive than the Berkeley
53: copyright, or must relegate this material to a secondary status,
54: i.e. OpenBSD as a whole is freely redistributable, but some optional
55: components may not be.
1.1 grr 56: </p>
1.6 deraadt 57: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Copyright Law</font></h3>
1.3 grr 58: <p>
1.1 grr 59: While the overall subject of copyright law is far beyond the scope of
1.2 grr 60: this document, some basics are in order. Under the current copyright law,
1.1 grr 61: copyrights are implicit in the creation of a new work and reside with
62: the creator, unless otherwise assigned. In general the copyright applies
63: only to the new work, not the material the work was derived from, nor
64: those portions of the derivative material included in the new work.
65: </p>
66: <p>
67: Copyright law admits to three general categories of works:
68: <dl>
69: </dt>Original Work
70: <dd>A new work that is not derived from an existing work.
71: <dt>Derivative Work
72: <dd>Work that is derived from, includes or amends existing works.
73: <dt>Compilations
74: <dd>A work that is a compilation of existing new and derivative works.
75: </dl>
76: The fundamental concept is that there is primacy of the copyright, that
77: is a copyright of a derivative work does not affect the rights held be
78: the owner of the copyright of the original work, rather only the part
79: added. Likewise the copyright of a compilation does not affect the rights
80: of the owner of the included works, only the compilation as an entity.
81: </p>
82: <p>
83: It is vitally important to understand that copyrights are broad protections
1.3 grr 84: as defined by national and international copyright law. The "copyright
85: notices" usually included in source files are not copyrights, but rather
86: notices that a party asserts that they hold copyright to the material or
1.5 todd 87: to part of the material. Typically these notices are associated with
1.3 grr 88: license terms which grant permissions subject to copyright law and with
89: disclaimers that state the position of the copyright holder/distributor
90: with respect to liability surrounding use of the material.
1.1 grr 91: </p>
1.6 deraadt 92: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Permissions - the flip side</font></h3>
1.1 grr 93: </p>
94: Because copyrights arise from the creation of a work, rather than through
1.3 grr 95: a registration process, there needs to be a practical way to extend
1.1 grr 96: permission to use a work beyond that which might be allowed by "fair use"
97: provisions of the copyright laws.
98: </p>
99: This permission typically takes the form of a "release" or "license"
100: included in the work, which grants the additional uses beyond those
101: granted by copyright law, usually subject to a variety of conditions.
1.3 grr 102: At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator asserts that
103: he imposes no restrictions on use of the material, at the other
104: restrictive clauses that actually grant no additional rights or impose
105: restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on use of the work.
1.1 grr 106: </p>
107: <p>
1.3 grr 108: Again, an important point to note is that the release and conditions can
1.1 grr 109: only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright
110: holder - the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither
1.3 grr 111: grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more
112: restrictive conditions for use of that work.
1.1 grr 113: </p>
114: <p>
1.3 grr 115: Because copyright arises from the creation of a work and not the text
116: or a registration process, removing or altering a copyright notice or
117: associated release terms has no bearing on the existance of the copyright,
118: rather all that is accomplished to whatever rights the person making the
119: modifications had to use the material in the first place. Likewise, adding
120: terms and conditions in conflict with the original terms and conditions
121: does not supercede them, rather it casts doubts on the rights of the person
122: making the amendments to use the material and creates confusion as to
1.5 todd 123: whether anyone can use amended version or derivatives thereof.
1.1 grr 124: </p>
125: <p>
126: Finally, releases are generally binding on the material that they
127: are distributed with. This means that if the originator of a work distributes
128: that work with a release granting certain permissions, those permissions
129: apply as stated, without discrimination, to all persons legitimately
130: possessing a copy of the work. That means that having granted a permission,
131: the copyright holder can not retroactively say that an individual or class
132: of individuals are no longer granted those permissions. Likewise should
133: the copyright holder decide to "go commercial" he can not revoke permissions
134: already granted for the use of the work as distributed, though he may impose
135: more restrictive permissions in his future distributions of that work.
136: </p>
1.6 deraadt 137: <h3><font color=#0000e0>Specific Cases</font></h3>
1.1 grr 138: <p>
139: This section attempts to summarize the position of OpenBSD relative to
140: some commonly encountered copyrights.
141: </p>
142: <dl>
143: <dt>Berkeley<dd><p>
144: The Berkeley copyright is the model for the OpenBSD copyright. It retains
145: the rights of the copyright holder, while imposing minimal conditions on
146: the use of the copyrighted material. Material with Berkeley copyrights,
1.3 grr 147: or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be
148: included in OpenBSD.
1.1 grr 149: </p>
150: <dt>AT&T<dd><p>
151: While AT&T holds the copyrights to much "unix" code and documentation,
1.2 grr 152: OpenBSD is based largely on Berkeley (BSD) distributions that contain only
1.1 grr 153: material known to be free of AT&T copyrights, or material to which
154: AT&T has abandoned it's copyright or included licensing terms similar
155: to the Berkeley terms. No material subject to restrictive AT&T
156: copyrights can be included in OpenBSD.
157: </p>
1.3 grr 158: <p>
159: Examples of AT&T code, included subject to non-restrictive copyrights,
160: include some system sources such as init_main.c and the AT&T version
161: of awk.
162: </p>
1.1 grr 163: <dt>DEC, Sun, other manufacturers/software houses.<dd><p>
164: In general OpenBSD does not include material copyrighted by manufacturers
165: or software houses. Material may be included where the copyright owner has
166: granted general permission for reuse without conditions, with terms similar
167: to the Berkeley copyright, or where the material is the product of an
168: employee and the employer's copyright notice is effectively releases any
169: rights they might have to the work.
170: </p>
171: <dt>Carnegie-Mellon (CMU, Mach)<dd><p>
172: The Carnegie-Mellon copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
173: that it requests that derivative works be made available to Carnegie-Mellon.
174: Because this is only a request and not a condition, such material can still
175: be included in OpenBSD. It should be noted that existing versions of Mach
176: are still subject to AT&T copyrights, which prevents the general
177: distribution of Mach sources.
178: </p>
1.3 grr 179: <dt>GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc.<dd><p>
1.1 grr 180: The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction
181: that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that
1.3 grr 182: are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code.
183: </p>
184: <p>
185: While this may be a noble strategy in terms of software sharing, it is a
186: condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software.
187: As a consequence, software bound by the GPL terms can not be included in
1.7 ! deraadt 188: the kernel or "runtime" of OpenBSD, though software subject to GPL terms
1.3 grr 189: may be included as development tools or as part of the system at are
190: "optional" as long as such use does not result in OpenBSD as a whole
191: becoming subject to the GPL terms.
192: </p>
193: <p>
194: As an example, some ports include GNU Floating Point Emulation - this is
195: optional and the system can be built without it or with an alternative
196: emulation package. Another example is the use GCC and other GNU tools in
197: the OpenBSD tool chain - it is quite possible to distribute a system for
198: many applications without a tool chain, or the distributor can choose to
199: include a tool chain as optional bundle which conforms to the GPL terms.
200: <p>
1.1 grr 201: </p>
202: <dt>NetBSD<dd><p>
1.5 todd 203: Much of OpenBSD is originally based on and evolved from NetBSD, since some
1.3 grr 204: of the OpenBSD developers were involved in the NetBSD project. The general
205: NetBSD license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit
206: such use. Material subject <strong>only</strong> to the general NetBSD
207: license can generally be included in OpenBSD.
208: </p>
209: <p>
210: The current NetBSD distribution also includes material copyrighted by
211: individuals who have imposed license conditions beyond that of the
212: general NetBSD license, but granted the NetBSD Foundation license to
213: distribute the material. Such material can not be included in OpenBSD
214: as long as the conditions imposed are at odds with the OpenBSD license
1.5 todd 215: terms or releases from those terms are offered on a discriminatory basis.
1.1 grr 216: </p>
217: <dt>FreeBSD<dd><p>
1.3 grr 218: Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or includes
1.2 grr 219: copyright notices based on the Berkeley model. Such material can be
1.3 grr 220: included in OpenBSD, while those parts that are subject to GPL or
221: various individual copyright terms that are at odds with the OpenBSD license
222: can not be included in OpenBSD.
1.1 grr 223: </p>
224: <dt>Linux<dd><p>
225: Most of Linux is subject to GPL style licensing terms and therefore
1.2 grr 226: can not be included in OpenBSD. Individual components may be eligible,
1.1 grr 227: subject to the terms of the originator's copyright notices. Note that
228: Linux "distributions" may also be subject additional copyright claims
229: of the distributing organization, either as a compilation or on material
1.3 grr 230: included that is not part of the Linux core.
231: </p>
232: <dt>X, XFree86<dd><p>
233: X and XFree86 are not parts of OpenBSD, rather X or Xfree86 is distributed
234: with many OpenBSD ports as a convenience to the user, subject to applicable
235: license terms.
1.1 grr 236: </p>
237: <dt>Shareware, Charityware, Freeware, etc.<dd><p>
238: Most "shareware" copyright notices impose conditions for redistribution,
239: use or visibility that are at conflict with the OpenBSD project goals.
240: Review on a case-by-case basis is required as to whether the wording
1.2 grr 241: of the conditions is acceptable in terms of conditions being requested vs.
1.1 grr 242: demanded and whether the spirit of the conditions is compatible with
1.2 grr 243: goals of the OpenBSD project.
1.1 grr 244: </p>
245: <dt>Public Domain<dd><p>
246: While material that is truly entered into the "Public Domain" can be
247: included in OpenBSD, review is required on a case by case basis.
1.3 grr 248: Frequently the "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does
249: not really hold all rights under Copyright law to grant that status or
1.1 grr 250: there are a variety of conditions imposed on use. For a work to be
1.3 grr 251: truly in the "Public Domain" all rights are abandoned and the material
252: is offered without restrictions.
1.1 grr 253: </dl>
254:
255: <hr>
256: <a href=index.html><img src=back.gif border=0 alt=OpenBSD></a>
257: <a href=mailto:www@openbsd.org>www@openbsd.org</a>
1.7 ! deraadt 258: <br><small>$OpenBSD: policy.html,v 1.6 1997/12/11 07:54:12 deraadt Exp $</small>
1.1 grr 259:
260: </body>
261: </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