Re: RFC: moving from BSD to GPL

[Michael Poole <mdpoole@troilus.org>]

Francesco P. Lovergine writes:

> Is it possible for an upstream to change license from a BSD-old to GPL?
> Consider the hypothesis that the product is a derivative work with a 
> few old contributors. I see no reasons to do not relicense after adding
> a credits note as required in the BSD license.

If by "BSD-old" you mean one with this clause:

3. All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software
   must display the following acknowledgement:
     This product includes software developed by <anybody except UC
     Berkeley>.

See http://www.fsf.org/licenses/info/BSD_4Clause.html; it is
GPL-incompatible.  For good or bad, the old contributors released
under that condition, and using the GPL removes that condition.  A
credits note is less comprehensive than "all advertising materials"
for use (much less distribution) of the software, and would not
fulfill the advertising requirements.

Michael Poole