Simplified BSD license

Mon Jun 4 12:53:54 UTC 2007

After a brief back-and-forth with the board, here is my formal
application for the simplified BSD license:

1) The proposed title for the license is "Simplified BSD license".

2) The text of the license is reproduced below, and an HTML version is
   available at <URL:http://www.des.no/simplified-bsd-license.html>

3) The license is derived from the (revised) BSD license, with the
   no-endorsement clause removed, leaving only the attribution-in-source
   and attribution-with-binary clauses.

   Note that the text I submit here is slightly different from the text
   in my original email to the OSI board: that version included the
   words "in this position and unchanged" at the end of the attribution-
   in-source clause.  I have no idea where I picked up those words, as
   they are not present in the original BSD license, nor in the FreeBSD
   or OpenBSD licenses.

4) The advantage of this license over the full BSD license is that it is
   unambiguously compatible with the GPL, as the no-endorsement clause
   could be regarded as a "further restriction on the recipients'
   exercise of rights" preventing BSD-licensed software from being
   combined with GPL software.

   Removing the no-endorsement clause also circumvents the entire
   discussion of where to draw the line between a statement of fact and
   an endorsement ("our software is derived from the Foobar package,
   which was developed by the Frobozz Institute", or "our software is
   derived from the award-winning Foobar package, which was developed by
   Nobel laureate, the Frobozz Institute"?)

   Finally, for many Open Source developers, the no-endorsement clause
   is pure nonsense - we would *love* to be held in such high regard
   that our name is used as a stamp of quality for software derived from
   ours.

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 COPYRIGHT HOLDERS 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
COPYRIGHT HOLDERS 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.

DES
-- 
Dag-Erling Smørgrav
Senior Software Developer
Linpro AS - www.linpro.no