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diff --git a/more/license_info.html b/more/license_info.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000000..7715d9dff2 --- /dev/null +++ b/more/license_info.html @@ -0,0 +1,280 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html> + +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Language" content="en-us"> +<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0"> +<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html"> +<title>Boost Software License Background</title> +</head> + +<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF"> + +<table summary="Navigational header" + border="1" bgcolor="#007F7F" cellpadding="2"> + <tr> + <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="../boost.png" alt="boost.png (6897 bytes)" width="277" height="86"></td> + <td><a href="../index.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>Home</big></font></a></td> + <td><a href="../libs/libraries.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>Libraries</big></font></a></td> + <td><a href="../people/people.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>People</big></font></a></td> + <td><a href="faq.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>FAQ</big></font></a></td> + <td><a href="index.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>More</big></font></a></td> + </tr> +</table> + +<h1>Information about the <a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">Boost Software License</a> </h1> + +<p><a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">License text</a><br> +<a href="#Introduction">Introduction</a><br> +<a href="#History">History</a><br> +<a href="#Rationale">Rationale</a><br> +<a href="#FAQ">FAQ</a><br> +<a href="#Transition">Transition</a><br> +<a href="#Acknowledgements">Acknowledgements</a></p> + +<h2><a name="Introduction">Introduction</a></h2> + +<p>The <a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">Boost Software License</a> +specifies the terms and conditions of use for those Boost libraries +that it covers.</p> + +<p>Currently, some Boost libraries have their own licenses. The hope is that +eventually all Boost libraries will be covered by the Boost Software +License. In the meantime, <b>all</b> libraries comply with the <a +href="#requirements">Boost License requirements</a>.</p> + +<h2><a name="History">History</a></h2> + +<p>As Boost grew, it became unmanageable for each Boost file to have +its own license. Users complained that each license needed to be reviewed, and that +reviews were difficult or impossible if Boost libraries contained many different licenses. +Boost moderators and maintainers spent excessive time dealing with license +issues. Boost developers often copied existing licenses without actually knowing +if the license wording met legal needs.</p> +<p>To clarify these licensing issues, the Boost moderators asked for help from +the <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu">Berkman Center for Internet & Society</a> +at Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. It was requested that a +single Boost license be developed that met the traditional requirements that Boost licenses, particularly:</p> + +<a name="requirements"></a> +<ul> + <li>Must be simple to read and understand. </li> + <li>Must grant permission without fee to copy, use and modify the software for + any use (commercial and non-commercial). </li> + <li>Must require that the license appear with all copies [including + redistributions] of the software source code. </li> + <li>Must not require that the license appear with executables or other binary + uses of the library. </li> + <li>Must not require that the source code be available for execution or other + binary uses of the library. </li> +</ul> + +<p>Additionally, other common open source licenses were studied to see what +additional issues were being treated, and additions representing good legal +practice were also requested. The result is the <a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">Boost +Software License</a>.</p> + +<h2><a name="Rationale">Rationale</a></h2> + +<p>The following rationale was provided by Devin Smith, the +lawyer who wrote the Boost Software License. It has been edited slightly for +brevity. Editorial additions are shown in square brackets.</p> + +<h3>Benefit of Common Software License</h3> +<p>If one of Boost's goals is to ease use and adoption of the various +libraries made available by Boost, it does make sense to try to +standardize the licenses under which the libraries are made available to +users. (I make some recommendations about a possible short-form license +below.)</p> +<p>[Standardizing the license will not] necessarily address the issue of satisfying +corporate licensees. Each corporation will have its own concerns, based +on their own experiences with software licensing and distribution and, +if they're careful, will want to carefully review each license, even if +they've been told that they're all standard. I would expect that, +unless we're remarkably brilliant (or lucky) in drafting the standard +Boost license, the standard license won't satisfy the legal departments +of all corporations. I imagine that some will, for instance, absolutely +insist that licensors provide a warranty of title and provide +indemnification for third-party intellectual property infringement +claims. Others may want functional warranties. (If I were advising the +corporations, I would point out that they're not paying anything for the +code and getting such warranties from individual programmers, who +probably do not have deep pockets, is not that valuable anyway, but +other lawyers may disagree.)</p> +<p>But this can be addressed, not by trying to craft the perfect standard +license, but by informing the corporations that they can, if they don't like the +standard license, approach the authors to negotiate a different, perhaps even +paid, license.</p> +<p>One other benefit of adopting a standard license is to help ensure that +the license accomplishes, from a legal perspective, what the authors +intend. For instance, many of the [original] licenses for the libraries available +on boost.org do not disclaim the warranty of title, meaning that the +authors could, arguably, be sued by a user if the code infringes the +rights of a third party and the user is sued by that third party. I +think the authors probably want to disclaim this kind of liability.</p> +<h3>Short-Form License</h3> +<p>Without in anyway detracting from the draft license that's been +circulated [to Boost moderators], I'd like to propose an alternative "short-form" license that +Boost could have the library authors adopt. David [Abrahams] has expressed a +desire to keep things as simple as possible, and to try to move away +from past practice as little as possible, and this is my attempt at a +draft.</p> +<p>This license, which is very similar to the BSD license and the MIT +license, should satisfy the Open Source Initiative's Open Source +Definition: (i) the license permits free redistribution, (ii) the +distributed code includes source code, (iii) the license permits the +creation of derivative works, (iv) the license does not discriminate +against persons or groups, (v) the license does not discriminate against +fields of endeavor, (vi) the rights apply to all to whom the program is +redistributed, (vii) the license is not specific to a product, and (viii) the +license is technologically neutral (i.e., it does not [require] an explicit gesture of +assent in order to establish a contract between licensor and licensee).</p> +<p>This license grants all rights under the owner's copyrights (as well as an +implied patent license), disclaims all liability for use of the code (including +intellectual property infringement liability), and requires that all subsequent +copies of the code [except machine-executable object code], including partial copies and derivative works, include the +license.</p> + +<h2><a name="FAQ">FAQ</a></h2> + +<p><b>How should Boost programmers apply the license to source and +header files?</b></p> + +<p>Add a comment based on the following template, substituting +appropriate text for the italicized portion: +<br> +<br> +<pre> +// Copyright <i>Joe Coder 2004 - 2006</i>. +// Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. +// (See accompanying file LICENSE_1_0.txt or copy at +// http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt) +</pre> +<br> +Please leave an empty line before and after the above comment block. +It is fine if the copyright and license messages are not on different lines; in +no case there should be other intervening text. Do not include +"All rights reserved" anywhere.<br> + +<p>Other ways of licensing source files have been considered, but some +of them turned out to unintentionally nullify legal elements of the +license. Having fixed language for referring to the license helps +corporate legal departments evaluate the boost distribution. +Creativity in license reference language is strongly discouraged, but +judicious changes in the use of whitespace are fine. + +<p><b>How should the license be applied to documentation files, instead?</b></p> + +<p>Very similarly to the way it is applied to source files: the user should +see the very same text indicated in the template above, with the only difference +that both the local and the web copy of LICENSE_1_0.txt should be linked to. +Refer to the HTML source code of this page in case of doubt. + +<p>Note that the location of the local LICENSE_1_0.txt needs to be indicated +relatively to the position of your documentation file +(<code>../LICENSE_1_0.txt</code>, <code>../../LICENSE_1_0.txt</code> etc.)</p> + +<p><b>How is the Boost license different from the +<a href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/gpl-license.php">GNU General Public +License (GPL)</a>?</b></p> + + +<p>The Boost license permits the creation of derivative works for +commercial or non-commercial use with no legal requirement to release +your source code. Other differences include Boost not requiring +reproduction of copyright messages for object code redistribution, and +the fact that the Boost license is not "viral": if you +distribute your own code along with some Boost code, the Boost license +applies only to the Boost code (and modified versions thereof); you +are free to license your own code under any terms you like. The GPL is +also much longer, and thus may be harder to understand.</p> + +<p><b>Why the phrase "machine-executable object code generated by a source +language processor"?</b></p> + +<p>To distinguish cases where we do not require reproduction of the copyrights +and license, such as object libraries, shared libraries, and final program +executables, from cases where reproduction is still required, such as +distribution of self-extracting archives of source code or precompiled header +files. More detailed wording was rejected as not being legally necessary, and +reducing readability.</p> + +<p><b>Why is the "disclaimer" paragraph of the license entirely in uppercase?</b></p> + +<p>Capitalization of these particular provisions is a US legal mandate for +consumer protection. (Diane Cabell)</p> + +<p><b>Does the copyright and license cover interfaces too?</b></p> + +<p>The conceptual interface to a library isn't covered. The particular +representation expressed in the header is covered, as is the documentation, +examples, test programs, and all the other material that goes with the library. +A different implementation is free to use the same logical interface, however. +Interface issues have been fought out in court several times; ask a lawyer for +details.</p> + +<p><b>Why doesn't the license prohibit the copyright holder from patenting the +covered software?</b></p> + +<p>No one who distributes their code under the terms of this license could turn +around and sue a user for patent infringement. (Devin Smith)</p> + +<p>Boost's lawyers were well aware of patent provisions in licenses like the GPL +and CPL, and would have included such provisions in the Boost license if they +were believed to be legally useful.</p> + +<p><b>Why doesn't the copyright message say "All rights reserved"?</b></p> + +<p>Devin Smith says "I don't think it belongs in the copyright notice for +anything (software, electronic documentation, etc.) that is being licensed. It +belongs in books that are sold where, in fact, all rights (e.g., to reproduce +the book, etc.) are being reserved in the publisher or author. I think it +shouldn't be in the BSD license."</p> + +<p><b>Do I have to copyright/license trivial files?</b> + +<p>Even a test file that just contains an empty <code>main()</code> +should have a copyright. Files without copyrights make corporate +lawyers nervous, and that's a barrier to adoption. The more of Boost +is uniformly copyrighted and licensed, the less problem people will +have with mounting a Boost release CD on a corporate server. + + +<p><b>Can I use the Boost license for my own projects outside Boost?</b> + +<p>Sure; there are no restrictions on the use of the license itself. + +<h2><a name="Transition">Transition</a></h2> + +<p>To ease the transition of the code base towards the new common +license, several people decided to give a <a +href="blanket-permission.txt">blanket permission</a> for all +their contributions to use the new license. This hopefully helps +maintainers to switch to the new license once the list contains enough +names without asking over and over again for each change. Please +consider adding your name to the list.</p> + +<h2><a name="Acknowledgements">Acknowledgements</a></h2> +<p>Dave Abrahams led the Boost effort to develop better licensing. The legal +team was led by +<a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/people/cabell/index.html">Diane Cabell</a>, +Director, Clinical Programs, <a href="http://cyber.law.harvard.edu">Berkman +Center for Internet & Society</a>, Harvard Law School. +<a href="http://www.nixonpeabody.com/attorneys_detail1.asp?ID=121">Devin Smith</a>, attorney, <a href="http://www.nixonpeabody.com/default.asp"> +Nixon Peabody LLP</a>, wrote the Boost License. Eva Chan, Harvard Law School, +contributed analysis of Boost issues and drafts of various legal documents. +Boost members reviewed drafts of the license. Beman Dawes wrote this web page.</p> +<hr> +<p>Revised +<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->27 August, 2004<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="39365" --></p> + +<p> © Copyright 2003-2004 Beman Dawes, Daniel Frey, David Abrahams.</p> +<p> Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. +(See accompanying file <a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">LICENSE_1_0.txt</a> or +copy at <a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>) +</p> + +</body> + +</html> |