FreeBSD BSD License 3 -> 2 Clause History

[Poul-Henning Kamp]

--------
In message <CAD2Ti2-=cUmABeDMFpuSvHp_h0PUXZTF6J-2TdiKi+nsRfskUA at mail.gmail.com>
, grarpamp writes:

>The change in question, from 3 to 2 clause, is here in Dec 1999:
>https://svnweb.freebsd.org/base/head/COPYRIGHT?r1=50978&r2=124033
>
>Next step is to ask imp/phk, and search the FreeBSD lists around
>that time for context as to why.

I think you are reading more into that commit than it contains:
It merely asserted "Copyright of Compilation" over FreeBSD.

The compilation copyright does not 'infect' the copyrights of all
the individual works it is composed of, it only protects, as for
instance the US copyright law says:

    1) The collection and assembly of pre-existing material, facts, or  data;

    2) The selection, coordination, or arrangement of those materials; and

    3) The creation, by virtue of the particular selection,
       coordination, or arrangement of an original work of authorship.

As I remember this event, it was more about being able to defend
the name and trademark FreeBSD than anything else, and it happened
as response to the trademark finally getting back to the project
after the WC/IX/WR saga.

However, I should caution that I was out of core for a couple of years
when this finally transpired, so I was not privy to core@'s deliberationso

Neither the core monthly or project quarterly reports mention it.

-- 
Poul-Henning Kamp       | UNIX since Zilog Zeus 3.20
phk at FreeBSD.ORG         | TCP/IP since RFC 956
FreeBSD committer       | BSD since 4.3-tahoe    
Never attribute to malice what can adequately be explained by incompetence.