[Python-Dev] License question (original) (raw)

Gustavo Niemeyer niemeyer@conectiva.com
Sun, 17 Mar 2002 13:25:29 -0300

The Python license gives you the right to prepare derivative works and to license them under any terms you like, but it does not give you the right to relicense those parts of your derivative work that you got from Python. The Python license continues to apply to those:

provided, however, that PSF's License Agreement and PSF's notice of copyright, i.e., "Copyright (c) 2001 Python Software Foundation; All Rights Reserved" are retained in ... any derivative version prepared by Licensee.

Thanks Tim. I'll probably license it completely under Python's license, since I'd like to see this code in the standard library some day.

Ditto for the other licenses the PSF license is stacked on top of. So you have to retain the file full of licenses and copyrights that came with your Python distribution. They don't apply to the original portions of your work, just to the portions of your work that came from the Python distribution.

Note also: 3. In the event Licensee prepares a derivative work that is based on or incorporates Python 2.2 or any part thereof, and wants to make the derivative work available to others as provided herein, then Licensee hereby agrees to include in any such work a brief summary of the changes made to Python 2.2.

I was already mentioning the origin of the code in the portions I based on fileobject.c. I'll also include a copyright notice in the header, mentioning those parts are copyrighted by PSF.

This is to help us, you, and your users keep track of which parts of your work are bound by the Python license, and which are bound by the license you put on top of the stack. Your work "as a whole" will be bound by your license too, but the Python license doesn't allow you to forbid others to reuse the Python portions of your work with the same freedom we let you use it.

Sure. It makes sense.

So, copy over the license file, and write a brief blurb explaining which parts of the Python stuff is your original work.

I'll do the other way around, since my original work is more than what I got from python. Anyway, since everything will be under Python's license, it'll be easier.

Thank you for explaining.

-- Gustavo Niemeyer

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