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1 See ../bsdiff/LICENSE. | 1 BSD Protection License |
| 2 February 2002 |
| 3 |
| 4 Preamble |
| 5 -------- |
| 6 |
| 7 The Berkeley Software Distribution ("BSD") license has proven very effective |
| 8 over the years at allowing for a wide spread of work throughout both |
| 9 commercial and non-commercial products. For programmers whose primary |
| 10 intention is to improve the general quality of available software, it is |
| 11 arguable that there is no better license than the BSD license, as it |
| 12 permits improvements to be used wherever they will help, without idealogical |
| 13 or metallic constraint. |
| 14 |
| 15 This is of particular value to those who produce reference implementations |
| 16 of proposed standards: The case of TCP/IP clearly illustrates that freely |
| 17 and universally available implementations leads the rapid acceptance of |
| 18 standards -- often even being used instead of a de jure standard (eg, OSI |
| 19 network models). |
| 20 |
| 21 With the rapid proliferation of software licensed under the GNU General |
| 22 Public License, however, the continued success of this role is called into |
| 23 question. Given that the inclusion of a few lines of "GPL-tainted" work |
| 24 into a larger body of work will result in restricted distribution -- and |
| 25 given that further work will likely build upon the "tainted" portions, |
| 26 making them difficult to remove at a future date -- there are inevitable |
| 27 circumstances where authors would, in order to protect their goal of |
| 28 providing for the widespread usage of their work, wish to guard against |
| 29 such "GPL-taint". |
| 30 |
| 31 In addition, one can imagine that companies which operate by producing and |
| 32 selling (possibly closed-source) code would wish to protect themselves |
| 33 against the rise of a GPL-licensed competitor. While under existing |
| 34 licenses this would mean not releasing their code under any form of open |
| 35 license, if a license existed under which they could incorporate any |
| 36 improvements back into their own (commercial) products then they might be |
| 37 far more willing to provide for non-closed distribution. |
| 38 |
| 39 For the above reasons, we put forth this "BSD Protection License": A |
| 40 license designed to retain the freedom granted by the BSD license to use |
| 41 licensed works in a wide variety of settings, both non-commercial and |
| 42 commercial, while protecting the work from having future contributors |
| 43 restrict that freedom. |
| 44 |
| 45 The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution, and |
| 46 modification follow. |
| 47 |
| 48 BSD PROTECTION LICENSE |
| 49 TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION, AND MODIFICATION |
| 50 ---------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 51 |
| 52 0. Definitions. |
| 53 a) "Program", below, refers to any program or work distributed under |
| 54 the terms of this license. |
| 55 b) A "work based on the Program", below, refers to either the Program |
| 56 or any derivative work under copyright law. |
| 57 c) "Modification", below, refers to the act of creating derivative works. |
| 58 d) "You", below, refers to each licensee. |
| 59 |
| 60 1. Scope. |
| 61 This license governs the copying, distribution, and modification of the |
| 62 Program. Other activities are outside the scope of this license; The |
| 63 act of running the Program is not restricted, and the output from the |
| 64 Program is covered only if its contents constitute a work based on the |
| 65 Program. |
| 66 |
| 67 2. Verbatim copies. |
| 68 You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program as you |
| 69 receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and |
| 70 appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice; keep |
| 71 intact all the notices that refer to this License and to the absence of |
| 72 any warranty; and give any other recipients of the Program a copy of this |
| 73 License along with the Program. |
| 74 |
| 75 3. Modification and redistribution under closed license. |
| 76 You may modify your copy or copies of the Program, and distribute |
| 77 the resulting derivative works, provided that you meet the |
| 78 following conditions: |
| 79 a) The copyright notice and disclaimer on the Program must be reproduced |
| 80 and included in the source code, documentation, and/or other materials |
| 81 provided in a manner in which such notices are normally distributed. |
| 82 b) The derivative work must be clearly identified as such, in order that |
| 83 it may not be confused with the original work. |
| 84 c) The license under which the derivative work is distributed must |
| 85 expressly prohibit the distribution of further derivative works. |
| 86 |
| 87 4. Modification and redistribution under open license. |
| 88 You may modify your copy or copies of the Program, and distribute |
| 89 the resulting derivative works, provided that you meet the |
| 90 following conditions: |
| 91 a) The copyright notice and disclaimer on the Program must be reproduced |
| 92 and included in the source code, documentation, and/or other materials |
| 93 provided in a manner in which such notices are normally distributed. |
| 94 b) You must clearly indicate the nature and date of any changes made |
| 95 to the Program. The full details need not necessarily be included in |
| 96 the individual modified files, provided that each modified file is |
| 97 clearly marked as such and instructions are included on where the |
| 98 full details of the modifications may be found. |
| 99 c) You must cause any work that you distribute or publish, that in whole |
| 100 or in part contains or is derived from the Program or any part |
| 101 thereof, to be licensed as a whole at no charge to all third |
| 102 parties under the terms of this License. |
| 103 |
| 104 5. Implied acceptance. |
| 105 You may not copy or distribute the Program or any derivative works except |
| 106 as expressly provided under this license. Consequently, any such action |
| 107 will be taken as implied acceptance of the terms of this license. |
| 108 |
| 109 6. NO WARRANTY. |
| 110 THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, |
| 111 INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY |
| 112 AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL |
| 113 THE COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR |
| 114 REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, |
| 115 INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES |
| 116 ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING, BUT |
| 117 NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF |
| 118 USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND |
| 119 ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR |
| 120 TORT, EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE |
| 121 POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. |
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