Appendix E Open Source Licences

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.

 

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