[SunRescue] djbdns, BIND, and DNS Security

Greg A. Woods rescue at sunhelp.org
Mon May 28 16:35:24 CDT 2001


[ On Monday, May 28, 2001 at 17:07:45 (-0400), Joshua D. Boyd wrote: ]
> Subject: Re: [SunRescue] djbdns, BIND, and DNS Security
>
> He doesn't say anything anywhere about whether we can or can't distribute
> source changes, which is another major hole.

I think even in the grand old U.S. of A. anyone can still distribute
patches to any software (at least any not protected by trade secret
law).  It's simply called "fair use" under the Copyright Act.  I suppose
there might be some complication in places where shrink-wrap contract
licenses are permitted (and even some so-called freeware licenses are in
effect shrink-wrap contract licenses because I'll bet if you tried to
enforce them under pure copyright law they just wouldn't hold any water.)

> I'm sorry, people with strang licences and who complain about them not
> being accepted annoy me.  Frankly, I wish everything were confined to 6
> licenses.  The GPL, LGPL, BSD, Artistic, Public Domain, or something that
> is very clearly proprietary.

Well, you'll never get that to happen!  ;-)

I don't think there's any major problem with my copyright license,
though some people have refused to accept it.  Of course I don't
complain about that -- I just don't let them use my software!  ;-)

It is, of course, mostly a BSD-style license, with some key corrections:

/*
 * Copyright (c) 2001 Greg A. Woods <woods at weird.com>
 * 
 * Redistribution of this software in both source and binary forms, with
 * or without modification, is permitted provided that all of the
 * following conditions are met:
 * 
 * 1. Redistributions of source code, either alone or as part of a
 *    collective work, must retain this entire copyright notice, and the
 *    following disclaimer, without alteration, in each file that
 *    contains part of this software.
 * 
 * 2. Redistributions of this software in binary form, either alone or
 *    as part of a collective work, must reproduce this entire copyright
 *    notice, and the following disclaimer, without alteration, in
 *    either the documentation (as text files in electronic media, or in
 *    printed matter), and/or any original header files from this
 *    software as per the previous term, and/or other materials provided
 *    as part of the distribution.
 * 
 * 3. Collective works including this software must also include the
 *    following acknowledgement, either alone or as part of this entire
 *    copyright license, in any printed documentation accompanying a
 *    physical distribution (if there is printed documentation), and in
 *    a plain text file separate from the archive files (but perhaps
 *    along with other similar acknowledgments) on any electronic
 *    medium:
 * 
 * 	This product includes software developed by Greg A. Woods.
 * 
 * 4. The name of the author may NOT be used to endorse or promote
 *    products derived from this software without specific prior written
 *    permission.  The use of the author's name strictly to meet the
 *    requirements of the previous terms is not to be considered
 *    promotion or endorsement under this term.
 * 
 * 5. Altered versions (derivative works) must be plainly marked as
 *    such, and must not be misrepresented as being the original
 *    software.  This copyright notice, and the following disclaimer,
 *    must not be removed from any derivative work and must not be
 *    changed in any way.
 * 
 * All other rights are reserved.
 * 
 * DISCLAIMER:
 * 
 * THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY GREG A. WOODS ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS
 * OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED
 * WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
 * ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY
 * DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
 * DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE
 * GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
 * INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER
 * IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR
 * OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN
 * IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
 */

(I suppose I should add that I'll freely grant the right to use this
license text itself to anyone, under the same conditions....  :-)

-- 
							Greg A. Woods

+1 416 218-0098      VE3TCP      <gwoods at acm.org>     <woods at robohack.ca>
Planix, Inc. <woods at planix.com>;   Secrets of the Weird <woods at weird.com>



More information about the rescue mailing list