Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001 18:31:04 +0200 From: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in> To: j mckitrick <jcm@freebsd-uk.eu.org> Cc: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com>, Giorgos Keramidas <keramida@ceid.upatras.gr>, Dirk Myers <dirkm@teleport.com>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: BSD, .Net comments - any reponse to this reasoning? Message-ID: <20010703183103.C40756@lpt.ens.fr> In-Reply-To: <20010703172216.F39318@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>; from jcm@freebsd-uk.eu.org on Tue, Jul 03, 2001 at 05:22:16PM %2B0100 References: <20010630174743.A85268@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org> <20010630173455.T344@teleport.com> <20010701032900.A93049@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org> <20010701132353.W344@teleport.com> <20010702152649.A18127@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org> <20010702180222.A2667@hades.hell.gr> <20010702161055.A18543@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org> <20010702172448.I4896@lpt.ens.fr> <3B41F0E4.B55E6937@softweyr.com> <20010703172216.F39318@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>
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> Tell me if I have this right: > > BSD-licensed code may be used for anything, but requires the permission of > the copyright owner to change the licensing terms. No. Anyone, including Microsoft, can use BSD code and use their own licensing terms on it, provided they keep to the pretty unrestrictive BSD license terms which applied to them (no liability, etc). > GPL-licensed code is subject to GPL terms as long as the copyright owner > keeps it under that license. They may change this at any time. No again. The copyright owner can change the license on newly-released code, but can't revoke the license on the GPL code that's already out there, except by physically squashing out every physical copy of GNU Tar (for instance) that anyone has ever received under the GPL. Once you have it under GPL you can distribute it under GPL. > Does this mean the existing code does or does NOT continue to be under the > terms of the original license before it was changed? Suppose you give me program A. If you own the copyright to program A, *you* can give it to anyone else under a different license. If the license I got it under was BSD, I can change the license and redistribute it. If it was GPL, I can't change the license but I can still redistribute it. Meanwhile you as copyright owner can still give it to someone else under a different license. However, whether it was BSD or GPL, once you have given it to me you can't change your mind and stop me from redistributing it. (At least, that's the idea, but it's never been tried in court, I think.) If the FSF releases GPL v3, for instance, nobody is forced to use that on the existing code which is already there under GPL v2. However, the standard GPLv2 allows users the option to "upgrade" the license. (There are exceptions like the linux kernel which may be distributed only under GPL v2.) - R To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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