From owner-freebsd-questions Thu Mar 5 11:35:44 1998 Return-Path: Received: (from majordom@localhost) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) id LAA05617 for freebsd-questions-outgoing; Thu, 5 Mar 1998 11:35:44 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG) Received: from rohan.sdsu.edu (tnguyen@rohan.sdsu.edu [130.191.143.100]) by hub.freebsd.org (8.8.8/8.8.8) with ESMTP id LAA05549 for ; Thu, 5 Mar 1998 11:35:36 -0800 (PST) (envelope-from tnguyen@rohan.sdsu.edu) Received: (from tnguyen@localhost) by rohan.sdsu.edu (8.8.7/8.7.3) id LAA17226; Thu, 5 Mar 1998 11:35:35 -0800 (PST) Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 11:35:35 -0800 (PST) From: "T. Nguyen" Message-Id: <199803051935.LAA17226@rohan.sdsu.edu> To: toor@dyson.iquest.net Subject: Re: The FreeBSD Copyright Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Sender: owner-freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.ORG > From toor@dyson.iquest.net Thu Mar 5 10:50:53 1998 > From: "John S. Dyson" > Subject: Re: The FreeBSD Copyright > To: tnguyen@rohan.sdsu.edu (T. Nguyen) > Date: Thu, 5 Mar 1998 13:50:42 -0500 (EST) > Cc: freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG > MIME-Version: 1.0 > Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit > > T. Nguyen said: > > > > The end result would be a terminal server running an > > embedded trimmed-down and modified FreeBSD kernel, along > > with modified and new drivers. My understanding is that > > condition #2 of The FreeBSD Copyright applies. Which says > > I only have to reproduce the copyright notice but NOT the > > source code? > > > FreeBSD (as long as you don't add GPLed code to the kernel or > runtime) does not encumber your ideas or source code in any > way. If you want to redistribute binary code as licensed > with the BSD or BSD-like licenses, you do not encur any > obligation to redistribute source code, or have to expose > your ideas and inventions to the public. > > The above idea is one of the hallmarks of the very > free BSD license terms. Secondarily, companies often > contribute non-strategic works back into the *BSD source > trees so that they offload some of the support work back > into the *BSD team efforts. > > -- > John | Never try to teach a pig to sing, > dyson@freebsd.org | it just makes you look stupid, > jdyson@nc.com | and it irritates the pig. > John, Thanks you for the prompt reply(I thought it would take days for someone to reply). I think the BSD license terms is a workable one unlike the GNU General Public License. Which adds so many strings to the term "free" that it's no longer free in the sense of the word. When it's not an obliglation to redistribute it makes it easier for the developer like myself to expand and add ideas to the existing code. And in the process would want to contribute, like you mentioned non-startegic works, back into the BSD source trees. Should things work out and we have a sellable product we will definately contribute back any source code we can to the source tree. -tung To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message