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1 | <!--#include file="header.html" --> | ||
2 | |||
3 | <p> | ||
4 | <h3>BusyBox is licensed under the GNU General Public License, version 2</h3> | ||
5 | |||
6 | <p>BusyBox is licensed under <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html#SEC1">the | ||
7 | GNU General Public License</a> version 2, which is often abbreviated as GPLv2. | ||
8 | (This is the same license the Linux kernel is under, so you may be somewhat | ||
9 | familiar with it by now.)</p> | ||
10 | |||
11 | <p>A complete copy of the license text is included in the file LICENSE in | ||
12 | the BusyBox source code.</p> | ||
13 | |||
14 | <p><a href="/products.html">Anyone thinking of shipping BusyBox as part of a | ||
15 | product</a> should be familiar with the licensing terms under which they are | ||
16 | allowed to use and distribute BusyBox. Read the full test of the GPL (either | ||
17 | through the above link, or in the file LICENSE in the busybox tarball), and | ||
18 | also read the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html">Frequently | ||
19 | Asked Questions about the GPL</a>.</p> | ||
20 | |||
21 | <p>Basically, if you distribute GPL software the license requires that you also | ||
22 | distribute the source code to that GPL-licensed software. So if you distribute | ||
23 | BusyBox without making the source code to the version you distribute available, | ||
24 | you violate the license terms, and thus infringe on the copyrights of BusyBox. | ||
25 | (This requirement applies whether or not you modified BusyBox; either way the | ||
26 | license terms still apply to you.) Read the license text for the details.</p> | ||
27 | |||
28 | <h3>A note on GPL versions</h3> | ||
29 | |||
30 | <p>Version 2 of the GPL is the only version of the GPL which current versions | ||
31 | of BusyBox may be distributed under. New code added to the tree is licensed | ||
32 | GPL version 2, and the project's license is GPL version 2.</p> | ||
33 | |||
34 | <p>Older versions of BusyBox (versions 1.2.2 and earlier, up through about svn | ||
35 | 16112) included variants of the recommended "GPL version 2 or (at your option) | ||
36 | later versions" boilerplate permission grant. Ancient versions of BusyBox | ||
37 | (before svn 49) did not specify any version at all, and section 9 of GPLv2 | ||
38 | (the most recent version at the time) says those old versions may be | ||
39 | redistributed under any version of GPL (including the obsolete V1). This was | ||
40 | conceptually similar to a dual license, except that the different licenses were | ||
41 | different versions of the GPL.</p> | ||
42 | |||
43 | <p>However, BusyBox has apparently always contained chunks of code that were | ||
44 | licensed under GPL version 2 only. Examples include applets written by Linus | ||
45 | Torvalds (util-linux/mkfs_minix.c and util_linux/mkswap.c) which stated they | ||
46 | "may be redistributed as per the Linux copyright" (which Linus clarified in the | ||
47 | 2.4.0-pre8 release announcement in 2000 was GPLv2 only), and Linux kernel code | ||
48 | copied into libbb/loop.c (after Linus's announcement). There are probably | ||
49 | more, because all we used to check was that the code was GPL, not which | ||
50 | version. (Before the GPLv3 draft proceedings in 2006, it was a purely | ||
51 | theoretical issue that didn't come up much.)</p> | ||
52 | |||
53 | <p>To summarize: every version of BusyBox may be distributed under the terms of | ||
54 | GPL version 2. New versions (after 1.2.2) may <b>only</b> be distributed under | ||
55 | GPLv2, not under other versions of the GPL. Older versions of BusyBox might | ||
56 | (or might not) be distributable under other versions of the GPL. If you | ||
57 | want to use a GPL version other than 2, you should start with one of the old | ||
58 | versions such as release 1.2.2 or SVN 16112, and do your own homework to | ||
59 | identify and remove any code that can't be licensed under the GPL version you | ||
60 | want to use. New development is all GPLv2.</p> | ||
61 | |||
62 | <h3>License enforcement</h3> | ||
63 | |||
64 | <p>BusyBox's copyrights are enforced by the <a | ||
65 | href="http://www.softwarefreedom.org">Software Freedom Law Center</a> | ||
66 | (you can contact them at gpl@busybox.net), which | ||
67 | "accepts primary responsibility for enforcement of US copyrights on the | ||
68 | software... and coordinates international copyright enforcement efforts for | ||
69 | such works as necessary." If you distribute BusyBox in a way that doesn't | ||
70 | comply with the terms of the license BusyBox is distributed under, expect to | ||
71 | hear from these guys. Their entire reason for existing is to do pro-bono | ||
72 | legal work for free/open source software projects. (We used to list people who | ||
73 | violate the BusyBox license in <a href="/shame.html">The Hall of Shame</a>, | ||
74 | but these days we find it much more effective to hand them over to the | ||
75 | lawyers.)</p> | ||
76 | |||
77 | <p>Our enforcement efforts are aimed at bringing people into compliance with | ||
78 | the BusyBox license. Open source software is under a different license from | ||
79 | proprietary software, but if you violate that license you're still a software | ||
80 | pirate and the law gives the vendor (us) some big sticks to play with. We | ||
81 | don't want monetary awards, injunctions, or to generate bad PR for a company, | ||
82 | unless that's the only way to get somebody that repeatedly ignores us to comply | ||
83 | with the license on our code.</p> | ||
84 | |||
85 | <h3>A Good Example</h3> | ||
86 | |||
87 | <p>These days, <a href="http://www.linksys.com/">Linksys</a> is | ||
88 | doing a good job at complying with the GPL, they get to be an | ||
89 | example of how to do things right. Please take a moment and | ||
90 | check out what they do with | ||
91 | <a href="http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Content_C1&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1115416836002&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper"> | ||
92 | distributing the firmware for their WRT54G Router.</a> | ||
93 | Following their example would be a fine way to ensure that you | ||
94 | have also fulfilled your licensing obligations.</p> | ||
95 | |||
96 | <!--#include file="footer.html" --> | ||
97 | |||