[License-review] Berkeley Artistic License V5

Pamela Chestek pamela.chestek at opensource.org
Wed Jan 22 18:35:06 UTC 2025 

Dear License Review List:

At its Board meeting on January 17, 2025, the Board voted on the 
recommendation of the License Review Committee and declined to accept 
the Berkeley Artistic License V5 as an OSI-Approved License.

Pamela S. Chestek
Chair, Licensing Committee
Open Source Initiative

On 1/15/2025 8:46 AM, Pamela Chestek wrote:
> Dear License Review List:
>
> Below is the recommendation of the License Review Committee that the 
> Berkeley Artistic License V5 not be approved as an OSI-Approved 
> license, to be voted on at the next Board meeting.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Pamela S. Chestek
> Chair, Licensing Committee
> Open Source Initiative
>
> ==========================
>
> License: Berkeley Artistic License V5 (Exhibit A)
> Submitted: October 5, 2024, 
> https://lists.opensource.org/pipermail/license-review_lists.opensource.org/2024-October/005558.html
> Decision date: due no later than the first Board meeting after 
> December 5, 2024
>
> _License Review Committee Recommendation: _
>
> Resolved that it is the opinion of the OSI that the Berkeley Artistic 
> License V5 does not conform to the OSD and assure software freedom and 
> the license is therefore not approved.
>
> _Rationale Document_
>
> Reasons for withholding approval: All comments on the license were 
> negative, pointing out various interpretation problems with its 
> drafting. The title was also criticized, since it is not a license 
> associated with Berkeley or derived from the Artistic License, so the 
> title is deceptive. Finally, the license submitter agreed that a 
> revision was advisable, stating “Your concerns about paragraph two are 
> valid but I believe that only requires an alteration of paragraph 1 or 
> 2”; however, the license submitter only solicited others to revise the 
> license and did not submit an amended version of the license.
>
> /Exhibit A/
>
> The Berkeley Artistic License
> I: Metadata
>
> Project:(project name here)
>
> Project Developer:(developer or team name here)
>
> Original Project Name: (This and the following line may be deleted if 
> not applicable,these are both used to ascribe an origin point)
>
> Original Project Developer: (This and the previous line may be deleted 
> if not applicable, these are both used to ascribe an origin point)
>
> Contributors: (list of contributors and contributions separated by 
> semicolons.)
>
> II: Definitions
>
> Standard Version: The project which is the basis for modified 
> versions, also known as upstream.
>
> Modified Versions: versions of the source code distributed by the 
> project that have been modified, which can be distributed as 
> executables, downstream.
>
> The Software refers to the project, which is a collection of files 
> distributed by the Project Developer, the "Standard Version", and 
> derivatives of that collection of files created through modification 
> of the source code, the "Modified Version".
>
> III: License Terms
>
> 1. You may make and give away verbatim copies of the source form of 
> the Standard Version of this Software without restriction, provided 
> that you duplicate all of the original copyright notices, this 
> license, and associated disclaimers.
>
>
> 2. You may apply bug fixes, portability fixes and other modifications 
> from the Project Developer or other developers (including yourself) to 
> enable this software to work with modern tools, new hardware, new 
> operating systems, etc. A Software modified in such a way may still be 
> considered the Standard Version.
>
>
> 3. You may otherwise modify your copy of this Software in any way, 
> provided that your modifications use this same license or do not 
> distribute the resulting code.
>
>
> 4. You may choose to add your name to the contributors list, to allow 
> the Project Developer to credit you for your modifications in the 
> Standard Version of the Software.
>
>
> 5. You may distribute your modified copy of this Software in 
> executable form, provided that you make it clear that your 
> distribution of this code is modified, provide a copy of this license, 
> and provide a method to obtain both the source of the Standard Version 
> and the source of your Modified Version. You must also modify your 
> license to point to this project as the origin point, labeling your 
> modified version as a the project, moving any prior origin point to be 
> the primary contributor.
>
>
> 6. You may distribute this Software, with or without fee, provided 
> that you do not advertise the Standard Version of this Software as a 
> product of your own.
>
>
> 7. Neither the name of the project nor the name, username, handle, 
> etc, of the project developer or contributors may be used to endorse 
> or promote products derived from this software without specific prior 
> written permission.
>
>
> 8. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL 
> WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED 
> WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE 
> AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 
> DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR 
> PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER 
> TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR 
> PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
>
> On 10/5/2024 3:43 AM, Lucy Brown via License-review wrote:
>> This is a submission of Berkeley Artistic License v5.
>> This is a “New” License that was made as a means of creating a more 
>> legible, correct, and up to date variation of Artistic License V1, 
>> that has been conformed to my personal interpretation of the BSD, 
>> (Berkeley), style. It differs from BSD-4 and Artistic v2 in that it 
>> is not re-licensable and it is copyleft rather than permissive. It 
>> differs from GPL in that it's short, Clear, and accessible and it 
>> contains Metadata to credit developers within the license.
>>
>> This license has the following features: Copyleft;
>> No Attribution by default;
>> Contributors listed in the license itself.
>>
>> The license template follows:
>>
>> The Berkeley Artistic License
>> I: Metadata
>> Project:(project name here)
>> Project Developer:(developer or team name here)
>> Original Project Name: (This and the following line may be deleted if 
>> not applicable,these are both used to ascribe an origin point)
>> Original Project Developer: (This and the previous line may be 
>> deleted if not applicable, these are both used to ascribe an origin 
>> point)
>> Contributors: (list of contributors and contributions separated by 
>> semicolons.)
>>
>> II: Definitions
>> Standard Version: The project which is the basis for modified 
>> versions, also known as upstream.
>> Modified Versions: versions of the source code distributed by the 
>> project that have been modified, which can be distributed as 
>> executables, downstream.
>> The Software refers to the project, which is a collection of files 
>> distributed by the Project Developer, the "Standard Version", and 
>> derivatives of that collection of files created through modification 
>> of the source code, the "Modified Version".
>>
>> III: License Terms
>> 1. You may make and give away verbatim copies of the source form of 
>> the Standard Version of this Software without restriction, provided 
>> that you duplicate all of the original copyright notices, this 
>> license, and associated disclaimers.
>>
>> 2. You may apply bug fixes, portability fixes and other modifications 
>> from the Project Developer or other developers (including yourself) 
>> to enable this software to work with modern tools, new hardware, new 
>> operating systems, etc. A Software modified in such a way may still 
>> be considered the Standard Version.
>>
>> 3. You may otherwise modify your copy of this Software in any way, 
>> provided that your modifications use this same license or do not 
>> distribute the resulting code.
>>
>> 4. You may choose to add your name to the contributors list, to allow 
>> the Project Developer to credit you for your modifications in the 
>> Standard Version of the Software.
>>
>> 5. You may distribute your modified copy of this Software in 
>> executable form, provided that you make it clear that your 
>> distribution of this code is modified, provide a copy of this 
>> license, and provide a method to obtain both the source of the 
>> Standard Version and the source of your Modified Version. You must 
>> also modify your license to point to this project as the origin 
>> point, labeling your modified version as a the project, moving any 
>> prior origin point to be the primary contributor.
>>
>> 6. You may distribute this Software, with or without fee, provided 
>> that you do not advertise the Standard Version of this Software as a 
>> product of your own.
>>
>> 7. Neither the name of the project nor the name, username, handle, 
>> etc, of the project developer or contributors may be used to endorse 
>> or promote products derived from this software without specific prior 
>> written permission.
>>
>> 8. THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND THE AUTHOR DISCLAIMS ALL 
>> WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED 
>> WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE 
>> AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, OR CONSEQUENTIAL 
>> DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR 
>> PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER 
>> TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR 
>> PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
>>
>> End of license template.
>> You can also read the license template at the following link.
>> https://raw.githubusercontent.com/anoraktrend/Berkeley-Artistic/refs/heads/main/The%20Berkeley%20Artistic%20license
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> The opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and not necessarily those of the Open Source Initiative. Communication from the Open Source Initiative will be sent from an opensource.org email address.
>>
>> License-review mailing list
>> License-review at lists.opensource.org
>> http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-review_lists.opensource.org
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> The opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and not necessarily those of the Open Source Initiative. Communication from the Open Source Initiative will be sent from an opensource.org email address.
>
> License-review mailing list
> License-review at lists.opensource.org
> http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-review_lists.opensource.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.opensource.org/pipermail/license-review_lists.opensource.org/attachments/20250122/a27576ad/attachment-0001.htm>

More information about the License-review mailing list