[Closed] Confused by the License Agreement.

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I'm a user of PC-BSD and the only place I can find the license is in the OS itself, so I'm posting a copy here for reference and below that, are my questions: (you can skip to my questions below)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

# $FreeBSD$
# @(#)COPYRIGHT 8.2 (Berkeley) 3/21/94

The compilation of software known as FreeBSD is distributed under the
following terms:

Copyright (c) 1992-2011 The FreeBSD Project. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE AUTHOR AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGE.

The 4.4BSD and 4.4BSD-Lite software is distributed under the following
terms:

All of the documentation and software included in the 4.4BSD and 4.4BSD-Lite
Releases is copyrighted by The Regents of the University of California.

Copyright 1979, 1980, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
must display the following acknowledgement:
This product includes software developed by the University of
California, Berkeley and its contributors.
4. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGE.

The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the American
National Standards Committee X3, on Information Processing Systems have
given us permission to reprint portions of their documentation.

In the following statement, the phrase ``this text'' refers to portions
of the system documentation.

Portions of this text are reprinted and reproduced in electronic form in
the second BSD Networking Software Release, from IEEE Std 1003.1-1988, IEEE
Standard Portable Operating System Interface for Computer Environments
(POSIX), copyright C 1988 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics
Engineers, Inc. In the event of any discrepancy between these versions
and the original IEEE Standard, the original IEEE Standard is the referee
document.

In the following statement, the phrase ``This material'' refers to portions
of the system documentation.

This material is reproduced with permission from American National
Standards Committee X3, on Information Processing Systems. Computer and
Business Equipment Manufacturers Association (CBEMA), 311 First St., NW,
Suite 500, Washington, DC 20001-2178. The developmental work of
Programming Language C was completed by the X3J11 Technical Committee.

The views and conclusions contained in the software and documentation are
those of the authors and should not be interpreted as representing official
policies, either expressed or implied, of the Regents of the University
of California.


NOTE: The copyright of UC Berkeley's Berkeley Software Distribution ("BSD")
source has been updated. The copyright addendum may be found at
ftp://ftp.cs.berkeley.edu/pub/4bsd/README.Impt.License.Change and is
included below.

July 22, 1999

To All Licensees, Distributors of Any Version of BSD:

As you know, certain of the Berkeley Software Distribution ("BSD") source
code files require that further distributions of products containing all or
portions of the software, acknowledge within their advertising materials
that such products contain software developed by UC Berkeley and its
contributors.

Specifically, the provision reads:

" * 3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
* must display the following acknowledgement:
* This product includes software developed by the University of
* California, Berkeley and its contributors."

Effective immediately, licensees and distributors are no longer required to
include the acknowledgement within advertising materials. Accordingly, the
foregoing paragraph of those BSD Unix files containing it is hereby deleted
in its entirety.

William Hoskins
Director, Office of Technology Licensing
University of California, Berkeley

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A number of things confuses me. First: "The 4.4BSD and 4.4BSD-Lite software is distributed under the following terms:"

What is 4.4BSD and 4.4-Lite referring to?

This document reads to me like it is for the 4.4BSD and 4.4BSD-Lite software ONLY and would not include any new distributions of FreeBSD or PC-BSD that may or may not contain the above mentioned software.

Is "4.4BSD and 4.4BSD-Lite" what the kernel is called ( I'm guessing)

Does the current versions of FreeBSD and PC-BSD include 4.4BSD and 4.4BSD-Lite?

Are the "4.4" version numbers?

If so, do these versions numbers still apply to today's FreeBSD and PC-BSD?

I am asking because as I understand it from a legal perspective, if 4.4BSD and 4.4BSD-Lite is not used in FreeBSD and PC-BSD, or the software is used but with different version numbers, then this copyright license does not apply and FreeBSD and PC-BSD actually has no license.

What about the body of work inside of the FreeBSD and PC-BSD distributions that are Not expressly "4.4BSD and 4.4BSD-Lite" ?

Can someone clear these things up for me. Thank you.
 
If I'm reading this right, 4.4BSD and 4.4BSD-Lite refers to "Releases" of I assume the Berkley created code.

"In June 1994, 4.4BSD was released in two forms: the freely distributable 4.4BSD-Lite contained no AT&T source, whereas 4.4BSD-Encumbered was available, as earlier releases had been, only to AT&T licensees.

The final release from Berkeley was 1995's 4.4BSD-Lite Release 2, after which the CSRG was dissolved and development of BSD at Berkeley ceased. Since then, several variants based directly or indirectly on 4.4BSD-Lite (such as FreeBSD, NetBSD, OpenBSD and DragonFly BSD) have been maintained."

Is that correct?
 
The FreeBSD family tree: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/share/misc/bsd-family-tree?rev=1.147

What about the body of work inside of the FreeBSD and PC-BSD distributions that are Not expressly "4.4BSD and 4.4BSD-Lite" ?
Keep in mind there's a strict separation of the base OS and ports. They are two separate entities. This distinction may be a little blurred on PC-BSD but it's quite clear on FreeBSD. Only the base OS is covered by the BSD license. Each port (x11/gnome2 for instance) has it's own license. Some also have a BSD license but most will have a GPL or derivative.
 
SirDice said:
The FreeBSD family tree: http://www.freebsd.org/cgi/cvsweb.cgi/src/share/misc/bsd-family-tree?rev=1.147


Keep in mind there's a strict separation of the base OS and ports. They are two separate entities. This distinction may be a little blurred on PC-BSD but it's quite clear on FreeBSD. Only the base OS is covered by the BSD license. Each port (x11/gnome2 for instance) has it's own license. Some also have a BSD license but most will have a GPL or derivative.


I see.. Hmm What I'm getting at here then, Is this really the right license for FreeBSD or PC-BSD in their current forms?

How far removed from the original 4.4BSD-Lite and or "Base" has the OS gotten over the years? Enough that it no longer resembles in code the former 4.4BSD-Lite release and therefore is not applicable?

It would appear so from that awesome tree you posted.
 
SirDice,

Thank you for posting the Tree it illustrates my concern which is; Is the current License so old and the code for the base so changed from 4.4BSD-Lite that legally it may be no longer valid.

You see this in products all the time, when someone makes an improvement or major change to a product the copyright is no longer valid - it becomes a different, new product requiring a new license agreement to reflect the new status of the newer product.

The FreeBSD devs would not be modifying the 4.4 version anymore, it would be modifying what ever the new version has become. To me, That version needs correct licensing. Therefore the current license may no longer be anything with legal standing.

Since CSRG was dissolved and development of BSD at Berkeley ceased, they are not going to be able to enforce legally any version that is not 4.4BSD-Lite - Unless I am mistaken somehow, if so, I'd like someone to explain it to me. I would appreciate it.

Thank you.
 
Interesting reading but that doesn't mean much and if you search histories of legal papers it doesn't stand up in court most of the time. The automobile of today still uses the same principles that was used over 50 years ago and it has also changed much. A copyright from the 40's Ford would not apply to a Ford today, especially if in the 2011 Ford copyright you state that the copyright is to cover a 1940's Ford and all changes to that model.

It would be nice for a legal expert to come around to answer the question. I want to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that you guys and in turn PC-BSD is covered. I do not like to think one of my favorite software is open to theft. If you look at the bottom of this page, the license is different from the one I found in the OS above. I do not know why this should be. It's way shorter and does by name mention the current date associated with the product (but yet still does not name the product): http://www.pcbsd.org/get-it/download-pc-bsd-isotope#isotope

How can there be the long version in the OS and the short version on the webpage and they be considered the same when by omission half the license isn't there?
 
This is a FreeBSD user community, we're not legal professionals dealing with software licenses on a daily basis. We don't even represent the FreeBSD operating system (let alone its derivative PC-BSD, which has its own forums and community) in any formal capacity.

Try a proper legal professional or contact the FreeBSD Project (a.k.a. http://www.freebsd.org/, see http://www.freebsd.org/administration.html), the 'owner' of FreeBSD. The FreeBSD forums are a mere extension / community tool, not the official legal department or spokesperson for the FreeBSD operating system, nor do the people in those positions frequent these forums in an official capacity (if at all).
 
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