1 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley <!doctype html>
2 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley <html lang=en>
3 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley <meta charset=utf-8>
5 a207d829 2016-04-24 tj <title>OpenBSD: Copyright Policy</title>
6 0605a30b 2016-03-29 tb <meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1">
7 0605a30b 2016-03-29 tb <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="openbsd.css">
8 6e244147 2016-08-15 tb <link rel="canonical" href="https://www.openbsd.org/policy.html">
12 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley color: var(--red);
16 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley <h2 id=OpenBSD>
17 ee8a436d 2016-03-29 tb <a href="index.html">
18 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley <i>Open</i><b>BSD</b></a>
19 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley Copyright Policy
24 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley <h3>Goal</h3>
27 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley Copyright law is complex, OpenBSD policy is simple — OpenBSD strives to
28 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze provide code that can be freely used, copied, modified, and distributed
29 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze by anyone and for any purpose. This maintains the spirit of the original
30 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze Berkeley Software Distribution. The preferred wording of a license to be
31 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze applied to new code can be found in the
32 0f4231a2 2018-08-24 bentley <a href="https://cvsweb.openbsd.org/src/share/misc/license.template?rev=HEAD">license template</a>.
35 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr OpenBSD can exist as it does today because of the example set by the
36 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr Computer Systems Research Group at Berkeley and the battles which they
37 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze and others fought to create a Unix source distribution un-encumbered
38 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze by proprietary code and commercial licensing.
41 8540ab4e 1999-08-07 millert The ability of a <strong>freely redistributable</strong> "Berkeley" Unix
42 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr to move forward on a competitive basis with other operating systems depends
43 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr on the willingness of the various development groups to exchange code amongst
44 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr themselves and with other projects.
45 414d639a 1997-08-30 deraadt Understanding the legal issues surrounding copyright is fundamental to
46 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr the ability to exchange and re-distribute code, while honoring the spirit of
47 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr the copyright and concept of attribution is fundamental to promoting the
48 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr cooperation of the people involved.
50 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley <h3>The Berkeley Copyright</h3>
53 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze The original Berkeley copyright poses no restrictions on private or commercial
54 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr use of the software and imposes only simple and uniform requirements
55 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr for maintaining copyright notices in redistributed versions and
56 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr crediting the originator of the material <strong>only</strong> in
59 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt For instance:
62 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * Copyright (c) 1982, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1993
63 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
65 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
66 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
67 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * are met:
68 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
69 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
70 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * 2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
71 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
72 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
73 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
74 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * must display the following acknowledgement:
75 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * This product includes software developed by the University of
76 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * California, Berkeley and its contributors.
77 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * 4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
78 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
79 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * without specific prior written permission.
81 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
82 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
83 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
84 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
85 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
86 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
87 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
88 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
89 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
90 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
91 73792f4d 2000-08-04 deraadt * SUCH DAMAGE.
95 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert Berkeley rescinded the 3rd term (the advertising term) on 22 July 1999.
96 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert Verbatim copies of the Berkeley license in the OpenBSD tree have that
97 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert term removed. In addition, many 3rd-party BSD-style licenses consist
98 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert solely of the first two terms.
100 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr Because the OpenBSD copyright imposes no conditions beyond those
101 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr imposed by the Berkeley copyright, OpenBSD can hope to share the same
102 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr wide distribution and applicability as the Berkeley distributions.
103 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert It follows however, that OpenBSD cannot include material which
104 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr includes copyrights which are more restrictive than the Berkeley
105 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr copyright, or must relegate this material to a secondary status,
106 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr i.e. OpenBSD as a whole is freely redistributable, but some optional
107 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr components may not be.
109 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley <h3>Copyright Law</h3>
112 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr While the overall subject of copyright law is far beyond the scope of
113 a9b3b33f 1997-06-13 grr this document, some basics are in order. Under the current copyright law,
114 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr copyrights are implicit in the creation of a new work and reside with
115 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze the creator. In general the copyright applies
116 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr only to the new work, not the material the work was derived from, nor
117 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr those portions of the derivative material included in the new work.
120 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr Copyright law admits to three general categories of works:
122 27fbf5fb 2000-11-23 jufi <dt>Original Work
123 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dd>A new work that is not derived from an existing work.
124 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dt>Derivative Work
125 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dd>Work that is derived from, includes or amends existing works.
126 60a6818e 2020-04-25 schwarze <dt>Compilation
127 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dd>A work that is a compilation of existing new and derivative works.
131 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr The fundamental concept is that there is primacy of the copyright, that
132 37243cd2 1998-11-17 espie is a copyright of a derivative work does not affect the rights held by
133 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr the owner of the copyright of the original work, rather only the part
134 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr added. Likewise the copyright of a compilation does not affect the rights
135 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr of the owner of the included works, only the compilation as an entity.
138 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr It is vitally important to understand that copyrights are broad protections
139 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr as defined by national and international copyright law. The "copyright
140 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr notices" usually included in source files are not copyrights, but rather
141 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr notices that a party asserts that they hold copyright to the material or
142 e4adc584 1997-12-01 todd to part of the material. Typically these notices are associated with
143 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr license terms which grant permissions subject to copyright law and with
144 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr disclaimers that state the position of the copyright holder/distributor
145 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr with respect to liability surrounding use of the material.
148 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze By international law, specifically the Berne Convention for the
149 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, part of the author's
150 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze copyright, the so-called moral rights, are inalienable. This
151 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze includes the author's right "to claim authorship of the work and
152 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze to object to any distortion, mutilation or other modification of,
153 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze or other derogatory action in relation to, the said work, which
154 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze would be prejudicial to his honor or reputation". In some countries,
155 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze the law reserves additional inalienable moral rights to the author.
156 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze On the other hand, the author is free to transfer other parts
157 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze of his copyright, the so-called economic rights, in particular the
158 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze rights to use, copy, modify, distribute, and license the work.
160 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley <h3>Permissions — the flip side</h3>
163 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr Because copyrights arise from the creation of a work, rather than through
164 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr a registration process, there needs to be a practical way to extend
165 f50fa718 2002-02-26 jufi permission to use a work beyond what might be allowed by "fair use"
166 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr provisions of the copyright laws.
169 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr This permission typically takes the form of a "release" or "license"
170 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr included in the work, which grants the additional uses beyond those
171 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr granted by copyright law, usually subject to a variety of conditions.
172 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr At one extreme sits "public domain" where the originator asserts that
173 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr he imposes no restrictions on use of the material, at the other
174 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr restrictive clauses that actually grant no additional rights or impose
175 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr restrictive, discriminatory or impractical conditions on use of the work.
178 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze Note that a license is not to be confused with a copyright transfer.
179 c8771891 2014-03-25 naddy While a transfer would give the new copyright holder <em>exclusive</em>
180 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze rights to use the code and take these rights away from the author,
181 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze a license typically grants <em>additional</em> people non-exclusive
182 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze rights to use the code, while the authors retain all their rights.
185 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze The above observations regarding moral rights imply that putting
186 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze code under an ISC or two-clause BSD license essentially makes the
187 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze code as free as it can possibly get. Modifying the wording of these
188 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze licenses can only result in one of the three following effects:
191 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze <li>making the code less free by adding additional restrictions
192 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze regarding its use, copying, modification or distribution;
193 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze <li>or effectively not changing anything by merely changing the wording,
194 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze but not changing anything substantial regarding the legal content;
195 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze <li>or making the license illegal by attempting to deprive the
196 35b8ee94 2014-03-24 schwarze authors of rights they cannot legally give away.
200 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr Again, an important point to note is that the release and conditions can
201 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr only apply to the portion of the work that was originated by the copyright
202 c8771891 2014-03-25 naddy holder—the holder of a copyright on a derivative work can neither
203 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr grant additional permissions for use of the original work, nor impose more
204 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr restrictive conditions for use of that work.
207 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr Because copyright arises from the creation of a work and not the text
208 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr or a registration process, removing or altering a copyright notice or
209 37243cd2 1998-11-17 espie associated release terms has no bearing on the existence of the copyright,
210 80151dee 2003-08-08 jmc rather all that is accomplished is to cast doubt upon whatever rights the
211 80151dee 2003-08-08 jmc person making the modifications had to use the material in the first place.
212 80151dee 2003-08-08 jmc Likewise, adding terms and conditions in conflict with the original terms
213 80151dee 2003-08-08 jmc and conditions does not supersede them, rather it casts doubts on the rights
214 80151dee 2003-08-08 jmc of the person making the amendments to use the material and creates confusion
215 80151dee 2003-08-08 jmc as to whether anyone can use the amended version or derivatives thereof.
218 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr Finally, releases are generally binding on the material that they
219 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr are distributed with. This means that if the originator of a work distributes
220 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr that work with a release granting certain permissions, those permissions
221 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr apply as stated, without discrimination, to all persons legitimately
222 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr possessing a copy of the work. That means that having granted a permission,
223 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr the copyright holder can not retroactively say that an individual or class
224 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr of individuals are no longer granted those permissions. Likewise should
225 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr the copyright holder decide to "go commercial" he can not revoke permissions
226 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr already granted for the use of the work as distributed, though he may impose
227 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr more restrictive permissions in his future distributions of that work.
229 cce97a6e 2019-05-27 bentley <h3>Specific Cases</h3>
232 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr This section attempts to summarize the position of OpenBSD relative to
233 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr some commonly encountered copyrights.
236 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dt>Berkeley<dd><p>
237 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr The Berkeley copyright is the model for the OpenBSD copyright. It retains
238 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr the rights of the copyright holder, while imposing minimal conditions on
239 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr the use of the copyrighted material. Material with Berkeley copyrights,
240 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr or copyrights closely adhering to the Berkeley model can generally be
241 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr included in OpenBSD.
244 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dt>AT&T<dd><p>
245 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert As part of its settlement with AT&T, Berkeley included an
246 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert AT&T copyright notice on some of the files in 4.4BSD lite and lite2.
247 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert The terms of this license are identical to the standard Berkeley license.
249 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert Additionally, OpenBSD includes some other AT&T code with non-restrictive
250 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert copyrights, such as the reference implementation of
251 3e346337 2021-07-25 tj <a href="https://github.com/onetrueawk/awk">awk</a>.
254 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert <dt>Caldera<dd><p>
255 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze The original Unix code (AT&T versions 1 through 7 UNIX, including 32V)
256 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze was freed by Caldera, Inc. on 23 January 2002 and is now available under a
257 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert <a href="http://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Caldera-license.pdf">4-term BSD-style license</a>.
258 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze As a result, it would theoretically be possible to incorporate original
259 c8771891 2014-03-25 naddy Unix code into OpenBSD. However, that code is now so old that it does not
260 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze satisfy today's interface and quality standards.
263 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dt>DEC, Sun, other manufacturers/software houses.<dd><p>
264 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr In general OpenBSD does not include material copyrighted by manufacturers
265 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr or software houses. Material may be included where the copyright owner has
266 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr granted general permission for reuse without conditions, with terms similar
267 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr to the Berkeley copyright, or where the material is the product of an
268 903fed4e 1998-04-23 d employee and the employer's copyright notice effectively releases any
269 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr rights they might have to the work.
272 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dt>Carnegie-Mellon (CMU, Mach)<dd><p>
273 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr The Carnegie-Mellon copyright is similar to the Berkeley copyright, except
274 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr that it requests that derivative works be made available to Carnegie-Mellon.
275 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr Because this is only a request and not a condition, such material can still
276 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr be included in OpenBSD. It should be noted that existing versions of Mach
277 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr are still subject to AT&T copyrights, which prevents the general
278 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr distribution of Mach sources.
281 8540ab4e 1999-08-07 millert <dt>Apache<dd><p>
282 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze The original Apache license was similar to the Berkeley license,
283 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze but source code published under version 2 of the Apache license is
284 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze subject to additional restrictions and cannot be included into OpenBSD.
285 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze In particular, if you use code under the Apache 2 license, some of
286 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze your rights will terminate if you claim in court that the code
287 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze violates a patent.
290 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze A license can only be considered fully permissive if it allows use
291 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze by anyone for all the future without giving up any of their rights.
292 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze If there are conditions that might terminate any rights in the
293 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze future, or if you have to give up a right that you would otherwise
294 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze have, even if exercising that right could reasonably be regarded
295 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze as morally objectionable, the code is not free.
298 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze In addition, the clause about the patent license is problematic because
299 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze a patent license cannot be granted under Copyright law, but only under
300 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze contract law, which drags the whole license into the domain of contract
301 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze law. But while Copyright law is somewhat standardized by international
302 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze agreements, contract law differs wildly among jurisdictions. So what
303 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze the license means in different jurisdictions may vary and is hard to
304 763de98e 2017-03-27 schwarze predict.
307 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert <dt>ISC<dd><p>
308 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert The ISC copyright is functionally equivalent to a two-term BSD
309 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert copyright with language removed that is made unnecessary by the
310 8f0eda47 2003-08-04 millert Berne convention. This is the preferred license for new code
311 fbc1abab 2014-03-24 schwarze incorporated into OpenBSD. A sample license is available in the file
312 0f4231a2 2018-08-24 bentley <a href="https://cvsweb.openbsd.org/src/share/misc/license.template?rev=HEAD">/usr/share/misc/license.template</a>.
315 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr <dt>GNU General Public License, GPL, LGPL, copyleft, etc.<dd><p>
316 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr The GNU Public License and licenses modeled on it impose the restriction
317 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr that source code must be distributed or made available for all works that
318 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr are derivatives of the GNU copyrighted code.
321 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze While this may superficially look like a noble strategy, it is a
322 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze condition that is typically unacceptable for commercial use of software.
323 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze So in practice, it usually ends up hindering free sharing and reuse
324 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze of code and ideas rather than encouraging it.
325 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze As a consequence, no additional software bound by the GPL terms
326 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze will be considered for inclusion into the OpenBSD base system.
329 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze For historical reasons, the OpenBSD base system still includes the
330 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze following GPL-licensed components: the GNU compiler collection (GCC)
331 8c6626ca 2014-11-28 nick with supporting binutils and libraries, GNU CVS, GNU texinfo,
332 8c6626ca 2014-11-28 nick the mkhybrid file system creation tool, and the
333 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze readline library. Replacement by equivalent, more freely licensed
334 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze tools is a long-term desideratum.
337 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dt>NetBSD<dd><p>
338 e4adc584 1997-12-01 todd Much of OpenBSD is originally based on and evolved from NetBSD, since some
339 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr of the OpenBSD developers were involved in the NetBSD project. The general
340 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr NetBSD license terms are compatible with the Berkeley license and permit
341 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr such use. Material subject <strong>only</strong> to the general NetBSD
342 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr license can generally be included in OpenBSD.
345 8540ab4e 1999-08-07 millert In the past, NetBSD has included material copyrighted by individuals
346 8540ab4e 1999-08-07 millert who have imposed license conditions beyond that of the general
347 8540ab4e 1999-08-07 millert NetBSD license, but granted the NetBSD Foundation license to
348 8540ab4e 1999-08-07 millert distribute the material. Such material can not be included in
349 8540ab4e 1999-08-07 millert OpenBSD as long as the conditions imposed are at odds with the
350 8540ab4e 1999-08-07 millert OpenBSD license terms or releases from those terms are offered on
351 8540ab4e 1999-08-07 millert a discriminatory basis.
354 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dt>FreeBSD<dd><p>
355 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr Most of FreeBSD is also based on Berkeley licensed material or includes
356 a9b3b33f 1997-06-13 grr copyright notices based on the Berkeley model. Such material can be
357 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr included in OpenBSD, while those parts that are subject to GPL or
358 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr various individual copyright terms that are at odds with the OpenBSD license
359 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr can not be included in OpenBSD.
362 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dt>Linux<dd><p>
363 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr Most of Linux is subject to GPL style licensing terms and therefore
364 a9b3b33f 1997-06-13 grr can not be included in OpenBSD. Individual components may be eligible,
365 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr subject to the terms of the originator's copyright notices. Note that
366 903fed4e 1998-04-23 d Linux "distributions" may also be subject to additional copyright claims
367 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr of the distributing organization, either as a compilation or on material
368 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr included that is not part of the Linux core.
371 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze <dt>X.Org<dd><p>
372 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze The X.Org Foundation maintains and distributes the X Window System
373 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze under a modified MIT license, which is quite similar to the BSD
374 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze license and additionally allows sublicensing. Under the name of
375 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze Xenocara, the OpenBSD base system includes an improved and actively
376 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze maintained version of the X.Org code.
379 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dt>Shareware, Charityware, Freeware, etc.<dd><p>
380 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr Most "shareware" copyright notices impose conditions for redistribution,
381 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr use or visibility that are at conflict with the OpenBSD project goals.
382 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr Review on a case-by-case basis is required as to whether the wording
383 a9b3b33f 1997-06-13 grr of the conditions is acceptable in terms of conditions being requested vs.
384 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr demanded and whether the spirit of the conditions is compatible with
385 a9b3b33f 1997-06-13 grr goals of the OpenBSD project.
388 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr <dt>Public Domain<dd><p>
389 c8771891 2014-03-25 naddy While material that is truly entered into the "public domain" can be
390 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr included in OpenBSD, review is required on a case by case basis.
391 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr Frequently the "public domain" assertion is made by someone who does
392 c8771891 2014-03-25 naddy not really hold all rights under copyright law to grant that status or
393 b7f9f599 1997-06-13 grr there are a variety of conditions imposed on use. For a work to be
394 c8771891 2014-03-25 naddy truly in the "public domain" all rights are abandoned and the material
395 1fa59d06 1997-06-14 grr is offered without restrictions.
398 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze In some jurisdictions, it is doubtful whether voluntarily placing
399 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze one's own work into the public domain is legally possible.
400 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze For that reason, to make any substantial body of code free,
401 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze it is preferable to state the copyright and put it under an ISC
402 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze or BSD license instead of attempting to release it into the public
403 6447601f 2014-03-24 schwarze domain.
