Howdy. IANAL, but... On Wed, Jan 16, 2002 at 03:20:08PM -0400, Matt Yanchyshyn wrote: > Say I write some origianl code (that does not use any external > libraries, programs or otherwise) and license it under the GPL or BSD > license. As the original author of that code, can I change its license > later on or it it legally locked to its original public designation? So Once you release a piece of software under a particular license, then that release is forever more available under that license. As copyright holder, you can do whatever the hell you want with it, including licensing it under different licenses, changing the license, etc, but once it is out there, that *particular* release is always available under that license. A good example of the former is Qt; Trolltech (the copyright owner) releases the Qt library under two licenses: the GPL and a standard proprietary license. If someone wants to write GPL compatible code, then they can take the GPL option; if they want to write proprietary software, then they can pay Trolltech for a license. The important thing here is that it is the *same library*, just released in two different ways. An example of the latter is the SSH fiasco. Origanlly SSH was released under a BSD-ish license, but the ownder gradually made the license less and less free, until it was oh-so-very closed. Rather than sit and complain about it, the OpenBSD folks took the last fully 'Open' release and started hacking on it and adding new features (and protocols) until it far surpassed the (now) commercial version. So, basically, you can change your license as much as you want, but whats out there, stays out there. > far, I've been unable to find a clear answer. More specifically, if > this code is originally licensed as BSD and I decide to change it to > GPL, will all those who used my code in their programs be forced to > GPL-ify their work as well? Likewise, if I move from BSD to GPL, may > developpers previously under the GPL restrictions start to take > advantage of the BSD license's extra freedoms? Again, once the code is out there, it's out there. If you release some BSD code, then people will be able to use it BSD-style until the end of time (or copyright...), regardless of how you license future versions (or re-license past ones). (Assuming you transposed BSD and GPL in the third sentence) Of course, if it later goes out under the BSD-license, people can use it as such... If you really can't decide between the GPL and BSD, maybe you should have a look at the LGPL <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.txt> The important thing to remember is that while you can do whatever you want with *your* code, once you start accepting contributions from other people, it's their code too; you'll either need to get them to assign copyright to you when they submit code, or get their permission before you re-license. Hope this helps, this is not legal advice, talk to a lawyer, blah, blah... -rob
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