For Approval: Boost Software License, Version 1.0

Wed Oct 10 23:52:07 UTC 2007

This is a copy of the application submitted by Devin Smith to
license-approval at opensource.org prior to 7/27/2006.  We appreciate
your attention to this matter.

I apologize if this is a second copy, but I can't see the original
posting in the list archives and I've been having some problems with
my outgoing email recently.

---------

On behalf of Boost.org, I hereby request OSI approval of the Boost Software License.

1.  Name of License.  The name of the license is the “Boost Software License”.

2.  Text of License.  The text of the Boost Software License is reproduced in full below and is also available at http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt.

Boost Software License - Version 1.0 - August 17th, 2003

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person or organization
obtaining a copy of the software and accompanying documentation covered by
this license (the "Software") to use, reproduce, display, distribute,
execute, and transmit the Software, and to prepare derivative works of the
Software, and to permit third-parties to whom the Software is furnished to
do so, all subject to the following:

The copyright notices in the Software and this entire statement, including
the above license grant, this restriction and the following disclaimer,
must be included in all copies of the Software, in whole or in part, and
all derivative works of the Software, unless such copies or derivative
works are solely in the form of machine-executable object code generated by
a source language processor.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT
SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS OR ANYONE DISTRIBUTING THE SOFTWARE BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE,
ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

3.  Legal Analysis of License; Compliance with Open Source Definition.

A.  OSI Term 1 - Free Redistribution.  

The first paragraph of the Boost Software License expressly permits any person or organization to distribute the covered software, and does not restrict the licensee from selling or giving away the software as a component of an aggregate software distribution containing programs from several different sources.  

In addition, the first paragraph of the Boost Software License expressly states that the license is granted “free of charge”, and does not require a royalty or other fee for such sale. 

B.  OSI Term 2 - Source Code.

A quick reading of OSI Term 2 would seem to suggest that it requires that a license -- in order to comply with the Open Source Definition -- must expressly refer to “source code”.  For example, OSI Term 2 would seem to require that license expressly state that “the source code must be made available for download via the Internet without charge”.

It appears, however, that this reading is incorrect.  Many OSI-approved licenses do not have such express references to the requirements of OSI Term 2.  In fact OSI licenses such as the MIT License (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php) and the Fair License (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/fair.php) do not even expressly refer to “source code”.  

OSI Term 2, then, is best read as (i) prohibiting any license restrictions that would conflict with the requirements of OSI Term 2, and (ii) stating certain requirements regarding the software distributed under the applicable license.

Although Boost Software License does not expressly refer to “source code”, it does not expressly permit or require any of the prohibited activities (e.g., code obfuscation).

With regard to software distributed under the Boost Software License, all of the code available at boost.org (almost all of which is distributed under the Boost Software License) is available in source code form.

C.  OSI Term 3 - Source Derived Works.

Paragraph 1 express permits licensees to “prepare derivative works” of the Software.  (Although OSI Term 3 mentions both “modifications” and “derivative works”, granting the additional right to create “modifications” is unnecessary as a matter of copyright law.  This conclusion is reinforced by noting that OSI-approved licenses such as the IBM Public License Version 1.0 [http://www.opensource.org/licenses/ibmpl.php] make no mention of “modifying” the software or creating “modifications”.)

Although the license does not expressly “allow [the derivative works] to be distributed under the same terms as the license of the original software”, there is no need for such an express grant.  Under copyright law, the author of a derivative work owns the derivative work.  To the extent that, in order to distribute such derivative work, the licensee needs the right to distribute the underlying work (i.e., the original software), the license grants that right.  

In any case, such a right to distribute derivative works is implied under Paragraph 2, which states that “[t]he copyright notices . . .  must be included in all copies of the Software . . . and all derivative works of the Software . . .”

D.  OSI Term 4 - Integrity of The Author's Source Code.

The Boost Software License does not restrict source code from being distributed in modified form.  The license expressly permits the creation of derivative works and requires that license terms be applied to redistributions of the software and derivative works.  This language is very similar to the MIT License (http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php).

E.  OSI Term 5 - No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups.

The Boost Software License does not discriminate against any person or group of persons.   This issue is addressed explicitly by the language: "... to any person or organization obtaining a copy of the software and accompanying documentation covered by this license..."

F.  OSI Term 6 - No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor.

The Boost Software License does not restrict anyone from making use of the program in a specific field of endeavor. 

G.  OSI Term 7 - Distribution of License.

The Boost Software License expressly applies to all to whom the program is distributed in that the license is granted "... to any person or organization obtaining a copy of the software and accompanying documentation covered by this license ..."

H. OSI Term 8 - License Must Not Be Specific To a Product.

The Boost Software License is not specific to a product.

I.  OSI Term 9 - License Must Not Restrict Other Software.

The Boost Software License does not place restrictions on other software that is distributed along with the licensed software. 

J.  OSI Term 10 - License Must Be Technology-Neutral.

No provision of the Boost Software License is predicated on any individual technology or style of interface. 

Thank you for your consideration of this request.

Respectfully submitted,

Devin Smith

For Approval:  Boost Software License

1.  The Boost Software License was developed in order to serve as a common open source software license for the C++ libraries developed by numerous different Boost.org contributors.  It was intended to encourage commercial use of the boost.org libraries, by being simple to read and understand, by not requiring that the license statement appear in executables, and by allowing licensees to undertake warranty obligations. 

The Boost Software License is based upon the MIT license, but differs from the MIT license in that it:

(i) makes clear that licenses can be granted to organizations as well as individuals;
(ii) does not require that the license appear with executables or other binary uses of the library;
(iii) expressly disclaims -- on behalf of the author and copyright holders of the software only -- the warranty of title (a warranty that, under the Uniform Commercial Code, is separate from the warranty of non-infringement)
(iv) does not extend the disclaimer of warranties to licensees, so that they may, if they choose, undertake such warranties (e.g., in exchange for payment).

2. Software distributed under the Boost Software License can be used in conjunction with software distributed under other open source licenses.  Any software license that is more restrictive of the rights of a licensee (e.g., the GNU GPL) would likely take precedence for derivative or combined works.  I don’t believe there are any OSI-approved software licenses that are entirely incompatible with the Boost Software License.

3. Plain text version of the Boost Software License:

Boost Software License - Version 1.0 - August 17th, 2003

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person or organization
obtaining a copy of the software and accompanying documentation covered by
this license (the "Software") to use, reproduce, display, distribute,
execute, and transmit the Software, and to prepare derivative works of the
Software, and to permit third-parties to whom the Software is furnished to
do so, all subject to the following:

The copyright notices in the Software and this entire statement, including
the above license grant, this restriction and the following disclaimer,
must be included in all copies of the Software, in whole or in part, and
all derivative works of the Software, unless such copies or derivative
works are solely in the form of machine-executable object code generated by
a source language processor.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT
SHALL THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS OR ANYONE DISTRIBUTING THE SOFTWARE BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE,
ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER
DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

-- 
Dave Abrahams
Boost Consulting
http://www.boost-consulting.com