[License-discuss] 3-clause BSD with additional clause forbidding key disclosure

[Zluty Sysel]

On Wed, Feb 4, 2015 at 1:11 PM, Gervase Markham <gerv at mozilla.org> wrote:
> On 03/02/15 17:21, Zluty Sysel wrote:
>> I have a set of source files that I would like to open source using a
>> standard 3-Clause BSD but my company would not like that a certain set
>> of Private Keys used for authentication be disclosed along with the
>> code.
>
> You don't need to write a new license for this. Merely provide the
> Private Key to your customers under a license other than the BSD license
> - e.g. an agreement which has a confidentiality clause prohibiting
> disclosure.

Thanks for the input.

The issue however is that there is a certain reluctance not to include
this in the source code license, since one of the .c files contains a
very distinct placeholder (set to NULL) for the Private Key in it. The
clause in the license would serve as a reminder that those Private
Keys (which sometimes are shared across all employees of a single
company) are not redistributable even when the source code contains
one (albeit a NULL development one). Since Private Keys are
distributed in a fashion that makes it difficult for them to be
attached to a license, the company wants to include this in each
source code file so that users do not inadvertently commit to public
repos with the Private Key set.

Zluty