Developer And Distributor Checklists
The Free World Licence, while conceptually simple, is complex in
execution, and there are many issues to which developers and
distributors must attend. To simplify this task, I have prepared some
checklists that you can use to remind yourself of the requirements of
the licence in various situations. In the sections below, the term
"software" means software released under The Free World Licence. These
checklists mainly focus on the things that you must do (and which are
easy to forget) than the things that the licence says you must not do.
IMPORTANT: These checklists do not constitute
legal advice by Ross N. Williams or any other party, and
accordingly are not intended to be, nor should be relied upon as, a
substitute for legal or other professional advice in relation to The
Free World Licence. Where there is a conflict between a checklist
(and, in particular, an omission) and the licence itself, the text of
the licence prevails.
If You Refer To The Free World Licence
You must not refer to The Free World Licence as an "Open Source"
licence or to software released under the licence as "Open
Source Software" (Clause Note). See also the Rejected by Eric Raymond page.
Don't forget to include the licence's version number if it is a
formal reference to the licence.
If You Use The Software
You must not compile it (Clause 3.2) or run it
(Clause 3.1) on a non-free platform (Clause 1.4).
You must not incorporate any part of the software
into any other software not also released under The Free
World Licence (Clause 4.6).
If You Pass Copies Of The Software On To
Others
You must provide the recipient with a copy of The
Free World Licence (Clause 4.1).
You may not charge for the software itself
(Clause 2.5 and Clause 5.13). However, you may charge a
distribution fee (Clause 4.3) and/or a warranty fee
(Clause 4.4).
If you choose to pass on executables only, you
must provide information on where the recipient can obtain
the source code (Clause 4.2).
You must not represent that the recipient has
more or less rights than they do (Clause 4.8).
If You Modify The Software
If you modify a module, you must add a notice
providing your name, the date of the change, your email
address, and a brief summary of each change (Clause 5.4).
If you modify the software, you must add an
interactive notice stating that the Program has been
modified since its Official release, a statement that an
official version is available, and sufficient online contact
information (e.g. official web address) for obtaining the
Official version, as provided by Original Licensor (Clause 5.5).
You must name any executables you produce with a
name different from the official version of the software
(Clause 5.6).
If You Release Your Own Software Under
The Free World Licence
Be sure that you are comfortable warranting that
you have sufficient copyright in the software to license it
under this licence (Clause 2.6).
You must provide sufficient contact information
(Clause 4.5).
You must add an appropriate copyright notice and
disclaimer of warranty in each module (Clause 4.1).
You must add interactive notices (Clause 4.9).
This is extremely important because, among other things, it
provides legal protection for you, and supports the creation
of the licence contract.
Your end-user documentation must include an
acknowledgement that you wrote the software (Clause 4.11).
It's important to put this in so that someone has to explicitly
remove it later to get rid of it.
If you own a trademark on the program name, you
should issue a public licence for use of the trademark that
states the conditions under which you wish to allow it to be
used in relation to the software (Clause 5.7). If you
do not wish the trademark to be used to refer to the free
version of the program, then you should choose a different
name for the free version.
If a module is covered by a patent owned by you,
then you must add a notice about the patent in each module
the patent affects, and in the module's documentation, or
you will be automatically granting a free licence to your
patent (Clause 5.14).
Don't rely on this list! When you're about to
release your software, read the licence carefully to ensure
that you haven't missed anything.
See a list of software released so far.
Or find out why RMS denounced the FWL!
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