Freebsd software license definition

Copyleft licenses such as the gnu gpl insist that modified versions of the program must be free software as well. For example, the generic kernel must be compiled under only licenses identical to or substantially similar to the. In another example, red hat purchased cygnus, an engineering. The goal of the freebsd project is to provide a stable and fast general purpose operating system that may be used for any purpose without strings attached. Although software surveys performed by github and black duck software both list the mit license as the most commonly encountered open source license, we. It can also be read as a bsd versus gpl open source license introduction. There is no one universally agreedupon definition of foss software and various groups maintain approved lists of licenses. This allows the direct incorporation of code from open source projects i. The import of new software licensed under any licenses other than the bsd license and bsdlike licenses as defined below requires the. It is the most popular among the bsdbased operating systems, with an installed base of more than 75%. See how to choose a license for your own work for general recommendations about choosing a license for your work the two major categories of free software license are copyleft and noncopyleft. Bsd licenses are a family of permissive free software licenses, imposing minimal restrictions on the use and distribution of covered software. A short name for the license or licenses if more than one license apply.

The freebsd project aims to produce a complete, bsdlicensed operating system allowing consumers of the system to produce derivative products without constraint or further license obligations. Bsd licenses are a low restriction type of license for open source software that does not put requirements on redistribution. Many foss software projects use a bsd license, for instance the bsd os family freebsd etc. Also, many new licenses were derived or inspired by the bsd licenses. In 2005, freebsd was the most popular opensource bsd operating system, accounting for more than threequarters of all installed simply, permissively licensed bsd systems. For more detailed information on freebsd, refer to the freebsd handbook. As of 2015 update the bsd 3clause license ranked in popularity number five according to black duck software 20 and sixth according to github data.

The free software foundation fsf maintains a list of what it considers free. When the readme of some software says this software is under the terms of the gnu lesser general. A bsd license gives a small company the equivalent of software inescrow without any legal complications or costs. Difference between different types of open sources licenses. Bsd licenses are much like the license that accompanied the original bsd.

Freebsd started out in 1992 as a patchrelease of bill and lynne jolitzs 386bsdbut 386bsd itself came from the original berkeley software. Comparison of free and opensource software licenses. Why you should use a bsd style license for your open source project. When asked about microsofts use of open source software, company spokesperson rick miller told betanews, we do run a small percentage of freebsd on our network. Bsd license is a part of a family of free software licenses that have much fewer restrictions in distribution as compared to other free software licenses. Bsd licenses are a low restriction type of license for open source software that does not put requirements on redistribution as a low restriction and requirement license type, berkeley source distribution licenses are used for the distribution of many freeware, shareware and open source software.