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I agree. In my opinion this was the intention of the legacy
category, a more liberal review of licenses that are widely accepted
as open source.<br>
<br>
Pam<br>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">Pamela S. Chestek<br>
Chestek Legal<br>
4641 Post St.<br>
Unit 4316<br>
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762<br>
+1 919-800-8033<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:pamela@chesteklegal.com">pamela@chesteklegal.com</a><br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.chesteklegal.com">www.chesteklegal.com</a><br>
<br>
</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 2/5/2026 1:51 AM, Carlo Piana via
License-review wrote:<br>
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<div>If it was a new license, I would advise to non-accept
it. But since it's a widely used and for a long time
license, I think we can give it a slot in the accepted
licenses list, since any proliferation concerns are moot
at this point ;-)</div>
<div><br data-mce-bogus="1">
</div>
<div>Carlo</div>
<br>
<hr id="zwchr">
<div>
<blockquote
style="border-left:2px solid #1010FF;margin-left:5px;padding-left:5px;color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><b>Da:
</b>"Christoph Röth via License-review"
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:license-review@lists.opensource.org"><license-review@lists.opensource.org></a><br>
<b>A: </b><a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:license-review@lists.opensource.org">"license-review@lists.opensource.org"</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:license-review@lists.opensource.org"><license-review@lists.opensource.org></a><br>
<b>Cc: </b>"Christoph Röth"
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:Christoph.Roeth@web.de"><Christoph.Roeth@web.de></a><br>
<b>Inviato: </b>Mercoledě, 4 febbraio 2026 19:44:36<br>
<b>Oggetto: </b>[License-review] Adding the curl
License<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<div>
<blockquote
style="border-left:2px solid #1010FF;margin-left:5px;padding-left:5px;color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">
<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"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">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" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">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"
target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true">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" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true"><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" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">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" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://curl.se/mail/lib-2026-02/</a><br>
</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" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://curl.se/docs/faq.html#license</a><br>
</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" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true">https://spdx.org/licenses/curl.html</a><br>
</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%"> </p>
<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" target="_blank"
moz-do-not-send="true"><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 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>
<br>
_______________________________________________<br>
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.<br>
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<pre wrap="" class="moz-quote-pre">_______________________________________________
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.
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