On Tue, Mar 23, 2010 at 10:40 AM, <[email protected]> wrote:
> Free BSD representative, > > I am inquiring if Free BSD is installable under the The GNU General Public > License (short: GNU GPL or simply GPL)? Need to verify that for the > requester of this software as coming through our subcontracts division. > > > Jack Guelff > Subcontracts Administrator > Software and Intellectual Property Licensing > Office: (319) 263-0985 > Fax: (319) 295-2075 > [email protected] > ____________________________ I am NOT a lawyer , therefore my views can not be considered a legal advice . I think , your best action would be to ask to a lawyer ( being expert on copyright and licensing issues ) for legal issues of such a question to be answered properly . If you consider GPL , its most important requirement is that when a GPL licensed software is distributed to others , the source is also should be supplied with respect to GPL license rules . A BSD licensed software can be used in ANY WAY without removing its license and copyright terms . If you study http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#CombinePublicDomainWithGPL http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#OrigBSD you will see that it is not possible to combine each free and permissive licensed software with a GPL licensed software . Therefore , for FreeBSD , it is necessary to review each file with respect to GPL combination . Another point is that GPL license can cover only USED parts within a GPL licensed software . If FreeBSD is not , let´s say , called by , or linked into a GPL licensed software , it will NOT be GPL license covered . It is obvious that any software with its own license terms can NOT be re-licensed as GPL licensed software , at least because GPL can NOT remove its own license , but it can or can not be utilized within a GPL licensed software . As a result , my opinion is that FreeBSD can NOT be re-licensed as a GPL licensed software as a whole . In reality , this is not necessary also because FreeBSD sources are open to public through its source repositories . Thank you very much . Mehmet Erol Sanliturk _______________________________________________ [email protected] mailing list http://lists.freebsd.org/mailman/listinfo/freebsd-questions To unsubscribe, send any mail to "[email protected]"
