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<!DOCTYPE html><html><head><meta charset="utf-8" /><title>Copyleft variation of the MIT license - The Terminal Programmer</title><meta content="2007-02-05T07:45:00-08:00" name="DCTERMS.created" /><meta content="2009-02-08T22:46:59-08:00" name="DCTERMS.modified" /><meta content="Suraj N. Kurapati" name="author" /><meta content="software, licensing, open source" name="keywords" /><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1" name="viewport" /><meta content="Readably https://github.com/sunaku/readably" name="generator" /><link href="style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /><link href="index.atom" rel="alternate" title="feed" type="application/atom+xml" /><script src="js/jquery.slim.min.js"></script></head><body><article data-entry-id="copyleft-mit-license" id="body"><header><div class="navigation"><a class="rootlink" href="index.html#copyleft-mit-license" title="The Terminal Programmer"><span>The Terminal Programmer</span></a></div><h1 class="title">Copyleft variation of the MIT license</h1><div class="author">Suraj N. Kurapati</div><time class="date" datetime="2007-02-05T07:45:00-08:00"> 5 February 2007</time><br /><time class="date" datetime="2009-02-08T22:46:59-08:00"><a href="#updates" title="1 update">8 February 2009</a></time></header><hr /><div class="description"></div><div class="content"><ol class="table-of-contents"><li><a id="__beliefs__" href="#beliefs" class="downlink">Beliefs</a><ol></ol></li><li><a id="__candidates__" href="#candidates" class="downlink">Candidates</a><ol></ol></li><li><a id="__approach__" href="#approach" class="downlink">Approach</a><ol></ol></li><li><a id="__result__" href="#result" class="downlink">Result</a><ol></ol></li><li><a id="__analysis__" href="#analysis" class="downlink">Analysis</a><ol></ol></li></ol><p>I had been using the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html">GNU General Public
License</a> for some years now without
fully understanding its implications. Recently, I spent some time thinking
about my ethical beliefs regarding free software and discovered that the GPL
does not satisfy them. I investigated other open source licenses, but nothing
fit. So, with the help of others, I developed a copyleft variation of the
famous <a href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php">MIT license</a>.</p>
<div id="beliefs" class="section"></div><h2 class="heading">Beliefs<a href="#beliefs" class="permalink" title="Permalink"></a><a href="#__beliefs__" class="uplink" title="Contents"></a></h2>
<p>These are my ethical beliefs regarding open-source software:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Source code should <em>always</em> be available for software because it allows the user to learn from and improve upon the software. In line with the academic spirit, this ensures that <em>everyone</em> has access to knowledge (the source code) – not just an elite few.</p></li>
<li><p>The license should <em>only</em> govern my source code and derivatives of it – nothing more. In this manner, I avoid imposing my beliefs on software that simply uses my source code.</p></li>
</ul>
<div id="candidates" class="section"></div><h2 class="heading">Candidates<a href="#candidates" class="permalink" title="Permalink"></a><a href="#__candidates__" class="uplink" title="Contents"></a></h2>
<p>The license that best embodies my ethical beliefs is the <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/">Creative Commons’
by-sa</a> (attribution + share-
alike) license. In particular, I like by-sa because it ensures that my source
code (and derivatives of it) will never be locked away or kept secret.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, CC does not recommend using their licenses for software. A
friend suggested that I try the <a href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/sleepycat.php">SleepyCat
license</a>, whose copyleft
condition (the third condition) states:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Redistributions in any form must be accompanied by information on how to
obtain <strong>complete source code for the DB software <em>and</em> any accompanying
software</strong> that uses the DB software. The source code must either be included
in the distribution or be available for no more than the cost of distribution
plus a nominal fee, and <strong>must be freely redistributable under <em>reasonable</em>
conditions</strong>. For an executable file, complete source code means the source
code for all modules it contains. It does not include source code for modules
or files that typically accompany the major components of the operating system
on which the executable file runs.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I found this condition to be:</p>
<ul>
<li><p><em>too aggressive</em>: I only want the license to govern my source code and its derivatives. I do not wish to impose the copyleft condition on any accompanying software that uses my source code.</p></li>
<li><p><em>too brittle</em>: In the phrase “must be freely redistributable under <em>reasonable conditions</em>”, what is considered to be <em>reasonable</em>?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The term <em>reasonable</em> is very subjective, and I can easily imagine it being
abused by evildoers. Ultimately, a judge will have to decide the meaning of
this word in court.</p>
<p>I looked at other licenses that fit the by-sa ideology (particularly MPL,
CDDL, CPL, EPL) but found them all to be very lengthy and full of legalese. In
contrast, I admire the short length and great comprehensibility of the MIT
license and so, I decided to make a copyleft variation of it.</p>
<div id="approach" class="section"></div><h2 class="heading">Approach<a href="#approach" class="permalink" title="Permalink"></a><a href="#__approach__" class="uplink" title="Contents"></a></h2>
<p>The MIT license has the following properties (from <a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/Burnette/?p=131">Ed Burnette’s
survey</a> of free software licenses):</p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Code is protected by copyright? Yes</li>
<li>Code can be used in closed source projects? Yes</li>
<li>Program that uses (incorporates) the software can be sold commercially? Yes</li>
<li>Source to bug fixes and modifications must be released? No</li>
<li>Provides explicit patent license? No</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>My goal was to modify the condition paragraph of the MIT license so that
question 4 above is given a “Yes” answer. The resulting license is a weak
copyleft variation of the MIT license.</p>
<div id="result" class="section"></div><h2 class="heading">Result<a href="#result" class="permalink" title="Permalink"></a><a href="#__result__" class="uplink" title="Contents"></a></h2>
<div class="highlight"><pre class="highlight plaintext"><code>Copyright <year> <holder>
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a
copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"),
to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation
the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the
Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
* All copies and substantial portions of the Software (the "Derivatives")
and their corresponding machine-readable source code (the "Code") must
include the above copyright notice and this permission notice.
* Upon distribution, the Derivatives must be accompanied by either the Code
or--provided that the Code is obtainable for no more than the cost of
distribution plus a nominal fee--information on how to obtain the Code.
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. 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.
</code></pre></div><p>The license shown above is the end result of several revisions made in
response to and with the help of friends and various people on the <a href="http://people.debian.org/%7Eterpstra/list/debian-legal.en.html">debian-
legal</a> and
<a href="http://www.crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-cgi?3">license-discuss</a> mailing lists and
the <a href="irc://irc.oftc.net/wmii">IRC chat room for the wmii project</a>.</p>
<p>Many discouraged me from pursuing my own license because I was inadvertently
contributing to the problem of <a href="http://lwn.net/Articles/124797/">license
proliferation</a>, but I proceeded nonetheless
because no existing license served my particular ethical beliefs so concisely
as this.</p>
<p>This license appears to satisfy the <a href="http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd">Open Source Definition
(OSD)</a>, <a href="http://www.debian.org/social_contract#guidelines">Debian Free Software Guidelines
(DFSG)</a>, the three tests
(desert island, dissident, and tentacles of evil) outlined in the <a href="http://people.debian.org/%7Ebap/dfsg-faq.html">DFSG-
FAQ</a>, and GPL compatibility
which the Free Software Foundation (FSF) is presently in the process of
verifying. However, only <a href="http://www.crynwr.com/cgi-bin/ezmlm-%0Acgi?3:mss:12667:200704:hphhhjdoecklcljgckno">OSD compliance has been
verified</a> thus far.</p>
<div id="analysis" class="section"></div><h2 class="heading">Analysis<a href="#analysis" class="permalink" title="Permalink"></a><a href="#__analysis__" class="uplink" title="Contents"></a></h2>
<p>This license is literally <em>identical</em> to the MIT license except for:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>The removal of the <code>(c)</code> token from the copyright notice because it is <a href="http://www.copyright.gov/circs/circ03.html">not a legally recognized substitute</a> for the real © symbol.</p></li>
<li><p>The list of conditions, in the middle.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Now, let us examine the list of conditions one by one.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>All copies and substantial portions of the Software (the “Derivatives”) and
their corresponding machine-readable source code (the “Code”) must include the
above copyright notice and this permission notice.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This condition ensures that the copyright and permission notice are never
removed from the software. Does this sound familiar? <em>Of course!</em> This
condition is simply a restatement of the original MIT license’s condition
paragraph.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Upon distribution, the Derivatives must be accompanied by either the Code or
–provided that the Code is obtainable for no more than the cost of
distribution plus a nominal fee–information on how to obtain the Code.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This condition ensures access to the software’s source code because the code
is either (1) distributed along with the software or (2) obtainable by some
other means. This is the primary innovation that makes this license a
<em>copyleft</em> variation of the MIT license.</p>
</div><hr /><h1 id="updates">Updates<a class="permalink" href="#updates" title="Permalink"></a></h1><aside class="update"><dl><dt class="title"><time datetime="2009-02-08T22:46:59-08:00"> 8 February 2009: </time></dt><dd class="content"><p>I gave up on this custom-crafted license because the risk of its invalidity in
a court of law was too overbearing, and instead embraced the <a href="http://www.opensource.org/licenses/isc-license.txt">ISC
license</a> for all of my
present and future open-source projects. What a relief!</p>
</dd></dl></aside><div class="comments" id="comments"><script>var disqus_container_id = 'comments';
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