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Appendix E Open Source Licences
NSA320 User’s Guide
521
detailed wording was rejected as not being legally necessary, and reducing
readability.
Why is the "disclaimer" paragraph of the license entirely in uppercase?
Capitalization of these particular provisions is a US legal mandate for consumer
protection. (Diane Cabell)
Does the copyright and license cover interfaces too? The conceptual interface to a
library isn't covered. The particular representation expressed in the header is
covered, as is the documentation, examples, test programs, and all the other
material that goes with the library. A different implementation is free to use the
same logical interface, however. Interface issues have been fought out in court
several times; ask a lawyer for details.
Why doesn't the license prohibit the copyright holder from patenting the covered
software? No one who distributes their code under the terms of this license could
turn around and sue a user for patent infringement. (Devin Smith)
Boost's lawyers were well aware of patent provisions in licenses like the GPL and
CPL, and would have included such provisions in the Boost license if they were
believed to be legally useful.
Why doesn't the copyright message say "All rights reserved"? Devin Smith says "I
don't think it belongs in the copyright notice for anything (software, electronic
documentation, etc.) that is being licensed. It belongs in books that are sold
where, in fact, all rights (e.g., to reproduce the book, etc.) are being reserved in
the publisher or author. I think it shouldn't be in the BSD license."
Do I have to copyright/license trivial files? Even a test file that just contains an
empty main() should have a copyright. Files without copyrights make corporate
lawyers nervous, and that's a barrier to adoption. The more of Boost is uniformly
copyrighted and licensed, the less problem people will have with mounting a Boost
release CD on a corporate server.
Can I use the Boost license for my own projects outside Boost? Sure; there are no
restrictions on the use of the license itself.
Is the Boost license "Open Source"? Yes. The Open Source Initiative certified the
Boost Software License 1.0 in early 2008.