Date: Tue, 23 Mar 2010 17:38:59 -0400 From: Mehmet Erol Sanliturk <m.e.sanliturk@gmail.com> To: jeguelf5@rockwellcollins.com Cc: questions@freebsd.org Subject: Re: Free BSD Licensing Message-ID: <a333b2be1003231438p278c2bf2h942cdfff64c82999@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <OF3BC68AD3.71E03CEF-ON862576EF.005057E8-862576EF.00509777@rockwellcollins.com> References: <OF3BC68AD3.71E03CEF-ON862576EF.005057E8-862576EF.00509777@rockwellcollins.com>
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On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 10:40 AM, <jeguelf5@rockwellcollins.com> wrote: > Free BSD representative, > > I am inquiring if Free BSD is installable under the The GNU General Publi= c > License (short: GNU GPL or simply GPL)? Need to verify that for the > requester of this software as coming through our subcontracts division. > > > Jack Guelff > Subcontracts Administrator > Software and Intellectual Property Licensing > Office: (319) 263-0985 > Fax: (319) 295-2075 > jeguelf5@rockwellcollins.com > ____________________________ I am NOT a lawyer , therefore my views can not be considered a legal advice . I think , your best action would be to ask to a lawyer ( being expert on copyright and licensing issues ) for legal issues of such a question to be answered properly . If you consider GPL , its most important requirement is that when a GPL licensed software is distributed to others , the source is also should be supplied with respect to GPL license rules . A BSD licensed software can be used in ANY WAY without removing its license and copyright terms . If you study http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#CombinePublicDomainWithGPL http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#OrigBSD you will see that it is not possible to combine each free and permissive licensed software with a GPL licensed software . Therefore , for FreeBSD , it is necessary to review each file with respect to GPL combination . Another point is that GPL license can cover only USED parts within a GPL licensed software . If FreeBSD is not , let=C2=B4s say , called by , or lin= ked into a GPL licensed software , it will NOT be GPL license covered . It is obvious that any software with its own license terms can NOT be re-licensed as GPL licensed software , at least because GPL can NOT remove its own license , but it can or can not be utilized within a GPL licensed software = . As a result , my opinion is that FreeBSD can NOT be re-licensed as a GPL licensed software as a whole . In reality , this is not necessary also because FreeBSD sources are open to public through its source repositories = . Thank you very much . Mehmet Erol Sanliturk
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