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Appendix E Open Source Licences
NSA320 User’s Guide
517
o Transition
o Acknowledgements
INTRODUCTION
The Boost Software License specifies the terms and conditions of use for those
Boost libraries that it covers.
Currently, some Boost libraries have their own licenses. The hope is that
eventually all Boost libraries will be covered by the Boost Software License. In the
meantime, all libraries comply with the Boost License requirements.
HISTORY
As Boost grew, it became unmanageable for each Boost file to have its own
license. Users complained that each license needed to be reviewed, and that
reviews were difficult or impossible if Boost libraries contained many different
licenses. Boost moderators and maintainers spent excessive time dealing with
license issues. Boost developers often copied existing licenses without actually
knowing if the license wording met legal needs.
To clarify these licensing issues, the Boost moderators asked for help from the
Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, USA. It was requested that a single Boost license be developed
that met the traditional requirements that Boost licenses, particularly:
o Must be simple to read and understand.
o Must grant permission without fee to copy, use and modify the software for any
use (commercial and non-commercial).
o Must require that the license appear with all copies [including redistributions] of
the software source code.
o Must not require that the license appear with executables or other binary uses of
the library.
o Must not require that the source code be available for execution or other binary
uses of the library.
Additionally, other common open source licenses were studied to see what
additional issues were being treated, and additions representing good legal
practice were also requested. The result is the Boost Software License:
Boost Software License - Version 1.0 - August 17th, 2003
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person or organization