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Date:      Fri, 8 May 2009 11:42:28 -0400
From:      Jerry McAllister <jerrymc@msu.edu>
To:        Steve Bertrand <steve@ibctech.ca>
Cc:        "questions@freebsd.org" <questions@freebsd.org>
Subject:   Re: Licensing
Message-ID:  <20090508154228.GA4202@gizmo.acns.msu.edu>
In-Reply-To: <4A03BE9F.5050906@ibctech.ca>
References:  <4A03BE9F.5050906@ibctech.ca>

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On Fri, May 08, 2009 at 01:09:51AM -0400, Steve Bertrand wrote:

> I've got a question that is likely not suited for this list, but I know
> that there are people here who can guide me off-list.
> 
> Being a network engineer, I'm far from a developer. With that said, I've
> written numerous network automation programs (mostly in Perl), and have
> developed several small patches for software written in C related to ISP
> operations (including the OS itself).
> 
> I'm looking for advice on how I can take all of my code, and license it
> into the public domain. I'm sure that most people won't have any
> interest in it, but I really want to ensure that what I have done is
> freely accessible.
> 
> All of my code is pretty well separated into different files that
> contain different functions, so isolating portions of my programs that
> use modules or functions that are external is not a problem.
> 
> GPL seems too verbose legally for me. Can the BSD license fit into any
> code, no matter what language it is in, and if so, can I have my code
> overlooked by someone who can verify that the BSD license will fit?

The first thing to determine is if any other entity might hold
some interest (ownership/copyright interest) in any of it.  If you
were employed by someone or some institution to do the work or the
work was done during time paid by those entities, then they may
have an interest.

If that is not the case, then the next thing to determine is if
any of it should be submitted to existing OSen or Utilities as
patches - bug fixes or improvements.  These two may not be a conflict
as many businesses will have no problem with you submitting back
fixes in software you are using in their behalf.   eg, for example,
if you are using FreeBSD to run a system for the business and write
a patch for FreeBSD while on company time that helps that business
operate better, they probably will have no problem with your 
submitting the patch for permanent inclusion in FreeBSD.

As much as possible, then, submit PRs and include the diffs that
cover the fixes or improvements.    

Finally, if you have complete clear ownership of some unique
utilities, then include license terms in the source with a requirement
that the license term be included in any subsequent distributions
and then submit the utilitie as a port - if it is for FreeBSD.

For a reasonable idea of how to compose license terms, check out
the license terms for FreeBSD on the web site.

I really don't know where to submit it if it is not for FreeBSD,
although there are several sites that such as SourceForge that make
themselves repositories for various usefull utilities.  You'd have
to check with them for how to go about submitting things and what
is expected in the way of support, etc.

Please include well documented source and clear statements as to
what the utilities do and how to use them.  Writing man pages
and why-to as well as how-tos is important.

You don't have to worry a whole lot
Good luck,

////jerry

> 
> Steve
> 
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