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As the sibling mentions, you cannot re-license code you do not hold copyright to. That said, you're very close to the mark. GPL applies to distributions of the

As the sibling mentions, you cannot re-license code you do not hold copyright to. That said, you're very close to the mark. GPL applies to distributions of the copyrighted work and executables based on it. So, the concern is around an OpenBSD release - they are shipping a full OS with source code and compiled work product. The GPL is "viral" in that you cannot make this release without licensing your whole distribution as GPL. OpenBSD does not want to be GPL, and so does not include GPL-ed code in base. The inverse is not true. A Linux distribution can include GPL and BSD-licensed code easily, because the BSD license imposes no constraints on redistribution.

eitland 6y ago
Of course you cannot relicense someone elses git repo. Copying BSD code and distributing it under another license (even a commercial one) seems to be totally OK though as long as you put in the correct notices. That is what GPL is meant to protect against.
- greggyb 6y ago
  Right, but the GPL license's protection also means that a BSD cannot be distributed under the BSD license (or similar) if it includes GPL components. This is why OpenBSD excludes GPL components. GPL enhances user freedom at the expense of restricting what programmers can do.
  - eitland 6y ago
    > Right, but the GPL license's protection also means that a BSD cannot be distributed under the BSD license (or similar) if it includes GPL components. I fail to see how this is different from what I wrote above (except for the missing word in my post above): > You cannot however mix GPL code into your BSD code and [distribute] the resulting work as BSD.
    - deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    - greggyb 6y ago
      I didn't pay enough attention to usernames as I was replying and thought I was talking to multiple people through the chain. We are in verbose (and unnecessary on my part) agreement.
- trasz 6y ago
  The “correct notice” being the original BSD license.

eitland 6y ago

Of course you cannot relicense someone elses git repo. Copying BSD code and distributing it under another license (even a commercial one) seems to be totally OK though as long as you put in the correct notices. That is what GPL is meant to protect against.

greggyb 6y ago
Right, but the GPL license's protection also means that a BSD cannot be distributed under the BSD license (or similar) if it includes GPL components. This is why OpenBSD excludes GPL components. GPL enhances user freedom at the expense of restricting what programmers can do.
- eitland 6y ago
  > Right, but the GPL license's protection also means that a BSD cannot be distributed under the BSD license (or similar) if it includes GPL components. I fail to see how this is different from what I wrote above (except for the missing word in my post above): > You cannot however mix GPL code into your BSD code and [distribute] the resulting work as BSD.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - greggyb 6y ago
    I didn't pay enough attention to usernames as I was replying and thought I was talking to multiple people through the chain. We are in verbose (and unnecessary on my part) agreement.
trasz 6y ago
The “correct notice” being the original BSD license.