Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2001 20:03:27 +0100 From: Kevin Golding <kevin@caomhin.demon.co.uk> To: Joe Clarke <marcus@marcuscom.com> Cc: FreeBSD User Questions List <freebsd-questions@freebsd.org> Subject: Re: OT: BSD license question Message-ID: <2Bj5TxB$5tc7EwDG@caomhin.demon.co.uk> In-Reply-To: <20010809144451.R31560-100000@shumai.marcuscom.com> References: <20010809144451.R31560-100000@shumai.marcuscom.com>
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In message <20010809144451.R31560-100000@shumai.marcuscom.com>, Joe Clarke <marcus@marcuscom.com> writes >I realize this is off-topic, but please help me out here. I'm a netatalk >developer. Netatalk is currently BSD-licensed code. There is a thread >on the developers list to change netatalk from BSD to GPL. Is this legal? >Can someone arbitrarily change the license of a project if they're not the >author? I don't think so. Seems to me Microsoft would have taken Linux, >said it's now BSD licensed, and used it in Windows XP ( ;-) ). Thanks for >some clarification. Note: IANAL! It depends on the license really. The GPL strictly forbids using code in proprietary software, any code derived from GPL'ed code *must* be released under the GPL. BSD isn't so strict, you are allowed to release code derived from it under a different license, as indeed a few major companies have, just not always enough it make their product good :-) So in theory yes you can change from BSD to GPL quite easily, the tricky part comes from not being the project leader. I'd say that they have the final word, (providing that it remains within all the laws that have applied beforehand/currently). I guess the only real solution is for you to read through the fine print of http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/license-list.html and talk about it some more. Kevin -- kevin@caomhin.demon.co.uk To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-questions" in the body of the message
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