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<p lang="en-GB"
style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in; page-break-before: always">Dear
OSI License-Approval Forum,</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">I would like the
curl license to be added. The license has been around for quite
some time, so it can be classified as a legacy license. The
license is available at SPDX. The first communication with the OSI
took place in the license-discuss forum
(<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://lists.opensource.org/pipermail/license-discuss_lists.opensource.org/2026-January/022507.html">https://lists.opensource.org/pipermail/license-discuss_lists.opensource.org/2026-January/022507.html</a>).
I have received permission from the author of the curl project to
have the license listed with OSI (<a
href="https://curl.se/mail/lib-2026-02/"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://curl.se/mail/lib-2026-02/</a>).</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">The question was
raised in the discussion forum whether there are plans to convert
the Curl license to MIT. Since the license has been in use for
over 20 years now, there are no plans to change it. The reasons
for this are listed in the email communication.<br>
In my opinion, the separate listing at SPDX also speaks in favour
of a separate license (<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext"
href="https://spdx.org/licenses/curl.html">https://spdx.org/licenses/curl.html</a>).</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">Please find
enclosed the information required for submitting a license to the
license-review mailing list.</p>
<p style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">**\u2022
Submit a copy of the license as an attachment in simple text
format.**</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">COPYRIGHT
AND PERMISSION NOTICE</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">Copyright
(c) 1996 - 2015, Daniel Stenberg, <a href="mailto:daniel@haxx.se"><daniel@haxx.se></a>.
<br>
All rights reserved. </p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">Permission
to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software for any purpose
with or without fee is hereby granted, provided that the above
copyright notice and this permission notice appear in all copies.</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">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 AND
NONINFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR
OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR
OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE
OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">Except
as contained in this notice, the name of a copyright holder shall
not be used in advertising or otherwise to promote the sale, use
or other dealings in this Software without prior written
authorization of the copyright holder.</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">**\u2022
Affirmatively state that the license complies with the Open Source
Definition, including specifically affirming it meets OSD 3, 5, 6
and 9.**</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">I can
confirm that the license complies with the Open Source Definition.</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">3.
Derived Works: Yes</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">5. No
Discrimination Against Persons or Groups: Yes</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">6. No
Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor: Yes</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">9.
License Must Not Restrict Other Software: Yes</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">**\u2022
Identify what projects are already using the license.**</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">The
curl project itself.</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">**\u2022
Provide the identity and contact details of the license steward,
if known, and of the submitter. The OSI will try to get in touch
with the license steward if the license submitter is not the
steward.**</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">Daniel Stenberg,
<<a href="mailto:daniel@haxx.se" class="moz-txt-link-freetext">daniel@haxx.se</a>><br>
The permission for listing by the Open Source Initiative can be
found here: <a href="https://curl.se/mail/lib-2026-02/"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://curl.se/mail/lib-2026-02/</a></p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">**\u2022
Provide any additional information that the submitter believes
would be helpful for license review. For example, approval of the
license by Debian, the FSF or the Fedora Project would be relevant
to the review process.**</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">The
website contains this text with detailed information about the
license, <a href="https://curl.se/docs/faq.html#license"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://curl.se/docs/faq.html#license</a></p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">What
license does curl use exactly?</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">curl
is released under an MIT derivative license. It is similar but not
identical to the MIT license.</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">The
difference is considered big enough to make SPDX list it under its
own identifier: curl.</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">The
changes done to the license that make it uniquely curl were tiny
and well-intended, but the reasons for them have been forgotten
and we strongly discourage others from doing the same thing.</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">**\u2022
Provide a unique name for the license, preferably including the
version number.**</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">Full
name: curl License (according to SPDX)</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">Short
identifier: curl (according to SPDX)</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><br>
</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">**\u2022 If
any exist, provide the unique identifier by other projects, like
SPDX or ScanCode.**</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%"><a
href="https://spdx.org/licenses/curl.html"
class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://spdx.org/licenses/curl.html</a></p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<p><br>
McCoy Smith added a comparison of the licenses to the
License-discuss forum. Here is the content of the *.odt file that
was attached at the time. The colours blue and red are the colours
used in SPDX. The strikethrough text was included in the MIT
license and has been omitted from the curl license. The green text
was not available in the MIT license and has been added. I hope
the email transfers the format correctly.</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">
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<p style="page-break-before: always">
<font color="#0000ff"><strike>MIT License</strike></font></p>
<p><font color="#00a933">COPYRIGHT AND PERMISSION NOTICE</font></p>
<p><font color="#ff0000">Copyright (c) <</font><font
color="#ff0000"><strike>year>
<copyright holders></strike></font><font
color="#00a933">1996 -
2015, Daniel Stenberg, <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:daniel@haxx.se"><daniel@haxx.se></a>. <br>
</font><font color="#00a933">All
rights reserved.</font><font color="#00a933"> </font>
</p>
<p>Permission <strike>is hereby granted, free of charge, to any
person obtaining a copy of </strike><var><font
color="#ff0000"><strike>this
software and associated documentation files</strike></font></var><strike>
(the "</strike><var><strike> </strike></var><var><font
color="#ff0000"><strike>Software</strike></font></var><strike>"),
to deal in the </strike><var><font color="#ff0000"><strike>Software</strike></font></var><strike>
without restriction, including without limitation the rights </strike>to
use, copy, modify, <strike>merge, publish,</strike> <font
color="#00a933">and</font>
distribute<strike>, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the</strike>
<font color="#00a933">this </font><font color="#00a933">s</font><var><font
color="#ff0000"><strike>S</strike></font></var><var><font
color="#ff0000">oftware</font></var><strike>,
and to permit persons to whom the </strike><var><font
color="#ff0000"><strike>Software</strike></font></var><strike>
is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:</strike><span
style="text-decoration: none">
</span><font color="#00a933">for any purpose with or without fee
is
hereby granted, provided that</font></p>
<p><font color="#00a933">t</font><strike>T</strike>he above
copyright
notice and this permission notice <font color="#00a933">appear</font><font
color="#00ff00">
</font><var><font color="#0000ff"><strike><span
style="text-decoration: none">(including
the next paragraph)</span></strike></font></var><strike><span
style="text-decoration: none">
shall be included</span></strike> in all copies<strike> or
substantial portions of the </strike><var><strike>Software</strike></var>.</p>
<p>THE <var><font color="#ff0000">SOFTWARE IS</font></var>
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 AND NONINFRINGEMENT <font
color="#00a933">OF
THIRD PARTY RIGHTS</font>. IN NO EVENT SHALL <var><font
color="#ff0000">THE
AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS</font></var> BE LIABLE FOR ANY
CLAIM,
DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT OR
OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE <var><font
color="#ff0000">SOFTWARE</font></var>
OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE <var><font color="#ff0000">SOFTWARE</font></var>.</p>
<p><font color="#00a933">Except as contained in this notice, the
name
of a copyright holder shall not be used in advertising or
otherwise
to promote the sale, use or other dealings in this Software
without
prior written authorization of the copyright holder.</font></p>
<br>
</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="margin-bottom: 0in; line-height: 100%">Best
regards</p>
<p lang="en-GB" style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in">Christoph</p>
<br>
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