116 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
116 lines
6.1 KiB
Plaintext
BSD Protection License
|
|
February 2002
|
|
|
|
Preamble
|
|
--------
|
|
|
|
The Berkeley Software Distribution ("BSD") license has proven very effective
|
|
over the years at allowing for a wide spread of work throughout both commercial
|
|
and non-commercial products. For programmers whose primary intention is to
|
|
improve the general quality of available software, it is arguable that there
|
|
is no better license than the BSD license, as it permits improvements to be
|
|
used wherever they will help, without idealogical or metallic constraint.
|
|
|
|
This is of particular value to those who produce reference implementations
|
|
of proposed standards: The case of TCP/IP clearly illustrates that freely
|
|
and universally available implementations leads the rapid acceptance of standards
|
|
-- often even being used instead of a de jure standard (eg, OSI network models).
|
|
|
|
With the rapid proliferation of software licensed under the GNU General Public
|
|
License, however, the continued success of this role is called into question.
|
|
Given that the inclusion of a few lines of "GPL-tainted" work into a larger
|
|
body of work will result in restricted distribution -- and given that further
|
|
work will likely build upon the "tainted" portions, making them difficult
|
|
to remove at a future date -- there are inevitable circumstances where authors
|
|
would, in order to protect their goal of providing for the widespread usage
|
|
of their work, wish to guard against such "GPL-taint".
|
|
|
|
In addition, one can imagine that companies which operate by producing and
|
|
selling (possibly closed-source) code would wish to protect themselves against
|
|
the rise of a GPL-licensed competitor. While under existing licenses this
|
|
would mean not releasing their code under any form of open license, if a license
|
|
existed under which they could incorporate any improvements back into their
|
|
own (commercial) products then they might be far more willing to provide for
|
|
non-closed distribution.
|
|
|
|
For the above reasons, we put forth this "BSD Protection License": A license
|
|
designed to retain the freedom granted by the BSD license to use licensed
|
|
works in a wide variety of settings, both non-commercial and commercial, while
|
|
protecting the work from having future contributors restrict that freedom.
|
|
|
|
The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution, and modification
|
|
follow.
|
|
|
|
BSD PROTECTION LICENSE TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION, AND
|
|
MODIFICATION
|
|
----------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
|
|
0. Definitions.
|
|
|
|
a) "Program", below, refers to any program or work distributed under the terms
|
|
of this license.
|
|
b) A "work based on the Program", below, refers to either the Program or any
|
|
derivative work under copyright law.
|
|
c) "Modification", below, refers to the act of creating derivative works.
|
|
d) "You", below, refers to each licensee.
|
|
|
|
1. Scope.
|
|
This license governs the copying, distribution, and modification of the Program.
|
|
Other activities are outside the scope of this license; The act of running
|
|
the Program is not restricted, and the output from the Program is covered
|
|
only if its contents constitute a work based on the Program.
|
|
|
|
2. Verbatim copies.
|
|
You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program as you receive
|
|
it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish
|
|
on each copy an appropriate copyright notice; keep intact all the notices
|
|
that refer to this License and to the absence of any warranty; and give any
|
|
other recipients of the Program a copy of this License along with the Program.
|
|
|
|
3. Modification and redistribution under closed license.
|
|
You may modify your copy or copies of the Program, and distribute the resulting
|
|
derivative works, provided that you meet the following conditions:
|
|
|
|
a) The copyright notice and disclaimer on the Program must be reproduced and
|
|
included in the source code, documentation, and/or other materials provided
|
|
in a manner in which such notices are normally distributed.
|
|
b) The derivative work must be clearly identified as such, in order that it
|
|
may not be confused with the original work.
|
|
c) The license under which the derivative work is distributed must expressly
|
|
prohibit the distribution of further derivative works.
|
|
|
|
4. Modification and redistribution under open license.
|
|
You may modify your copy or copies of the Program, and distribute the resulting
|
|
derivative works, provided that you meet the following conditions:
|
|
|
|
a) The copyright notice and disclaimer on the Program must be reproduced and
|
|
included in the source code, documentation, and/or other materials provided
|
|
in a manner in which such notices are normally distributed.
|
|
b) You must clearly indicate the nature and date of any changes made to the
|
|
Program. The full details need not necessarily be included in the individual
|
|
modified files, provided that each modified file is clearly marked as such
|
|
and instructions are included on where the full details of the modifications
|
|
may be found.
|
|
c) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole or
|
|
in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part thereof, to be
|
|
licensed as a whole at no charge to all third parties under the terms of this
|
|
License.
|
|
|
|
5. Implied acceptance.
|
|
You may not copy or distribute the Program or any derivative works except
|
|
as expressly provided under this license. Consequently, any such action will
|
|
be taken as implied acceptance of the terms of this license.
|
|
|
|
6. NO WARRANTY.
|
|
THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING,
|
|
BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS
|
|
FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER,
|
|
OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED
|
|
ABOVE, BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY,
|
|
OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM
|
|
(INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES;
|
|
LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND
|
|
ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT,
|
|
EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
|
|
SUCH DAMAGES.
|