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<h2>Toybox is licensed under the terms of GPLv2.</h2>

<p>The complete text of the General Public License version 2 is included in the
file LICENSE in each source tarball, and again at the end of this page.
Version 2 is the only version of this license which toybox is distributed
under.  (I.E. It doesn't have the strange "or later" dual license some projects
have.)</p>

<h2>Clarifications</h2>

<p>The GPL is a bit old and crufty in places, but it's still the best open
source license there is, and lots of source code (like the Linux kernel) is
distributed under it.  Lots of de facto interpretations have sprung up to deal
with things like the fact that it predates the internet service provider
industry.  Nothing in the rest of this page changes the actual license, so you
can ignore the rest of this page if you're happy with a strict reading of
GPLv2.  But just to be clear, here's how the authors of this project are
interpreting the sucker where it says something stupid.</p>

<p>Section 1: <b>You have permission to rephrase the license notice on
individual source files.</b>  This doesn't mean you can change what license the
code is under, or that you can remove other people's copyright notices.  You
certainly can't change the test of the GPL itself.  What it means is that if
a file says "see file LICENSE in this tarball for details" and you use this
code in a project that distributes source in zip files instead of
tarballs, or your package's copy of the GPLv2 text isn't in a file called
"LICENSE", it's silly to preserve an obsolete notice verbatim and add some
kind of "correction" after the old notice.</p>

<p>Some lawyers seem to think a strict reading of GPLv2 section 1 (and later
sections including section 1 by reference) requires maintaining old notices in
perpetuity.  Even if you had code that used to be dual licensed, but created
a derived work that's just under one of the two licenses, and the old license
notice is not just strange or misleading but actually incorrect for the new
file.  (For example, splicing GPLv2 only code into a dual "GPLv2 or later"
project produces a result that can be distributed under the terms of GPLv2,
but not GPLv3.  The result cannot be distributed under the "or later" part,
so a license notice saying it could is factually wrong.)</p>

<p>I don't know if we're ever going to put any dual licensed code into the tree,
but I want to head that one off now.  The actual license text is the important
thing, the per-file notice is a courtesy.</p>

<p>Section 2: <b>We don't put the change history in comments in the source
code, we put it in our source control system.</b>  We have source control for a
reason.  That's where this information belongs, and that's where we put it.
It's world readable on the web, and you can download a snapshot of the whole
repository if you like.  The GPL predates modern source control systems, but
this project does not.</p>

<p>Section 3: <b>We distribute source code through the internet.</b>  If
your "written offer" includes a URL, and the source code remains anonymously
downloadable at that location for three years after you stop distributing
binaries, life is good as far as we're concerned.  (No, you can't encrypt it,
or require a login, or otherwise be slimy bastards acting in bad faith.  We'll
come after you if you're not satisfying the terms of the license, this is just
talking about how you can satisfy those terms without having to mail physical
media.  Most people are already doing it this way.)</p>

<p>Also, <a href="http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/06/23/1728205&tid=150">what the FSF did to Mepis</a> was inexcusable.  (Further discussed
in <a href="http://www.busybox.net/lists/busybox/2006-June/022797.html">this
thread</a>.)  Mepis partnered with Ubuntu, put out a press release quoting
Ubuntu's founder about how cool the partnership was, and then pointed to
Ubuntu's source repository for packages it was using unmodified Ubuntu versions
of.  As far as we're concerned, Mepis didn't do anything wrong, and the FSF
was a bully.  The FSF was wrong when it tried to make an example out of a
company that was acting in good faith.</p>

<p>To make sure the FSF doesn't pick on anyone else against our wishes, we're
clarifying that if you didn't modify the source code, and the binaries you're
distributing can be entirely regenerated from a public upstream source,
pointing to that upstream source in good faith is good enough for us, as long
as they don't mind the extra bandwidth and the correct source code stays
available at that location for the duration of your responsiblity to
redistribute source.</p>

<p>This doesn't mean it's fair for a Fortune 500 company to point millions of
people at somebody's home DSL line (certainly not without asking first).
And if the source that's available there isn't the complete source you used
to produce your binaries, you haven't fulfilled your obligations either.
And if the code stops being available at that location, you're not off the
hook and have to find a new location or put up your own mirror.  And obviously
it has to be the _right_ source code (if you modified it, we want the patch,
and claiming you didn't modify it when you actually did is fraud).</p>

<p>This is not a "get out of jail free" card: It's still your responsibility to
make the source available.  We're just saying you can reasonably delegate to
something like Sourceforge or ibilbio and as long as everyone who wants the
source can get it, we're happy.  If the site you point to objects or goes down,
responsibility obviously reverts to you.</p>

<p>But if this project needs mirrors, we'll _ask_.  (Most likely we'll ask
someone like sourceforge, OSL, ISC, ibiblio, archive.org...)</p>

<p>Section 9: <b>Does not apply to this project.</b>  We're specifying the
version, it's version 2.  There is no "or later versions" clause to require
interpreting.

<hr>
<pre>
		    GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
		       Version 2, June 1991

 Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
     59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307  USA
 Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies
 of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

			    Preamble

  The licenses for most software are designed to take away your
freedom to share and change it.  By contrast, the GNU General Public
License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change free
software--to make sure the software is free for all its users.  This
General Public License applies to most of the Free Software
Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to
using it.  (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by
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  When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not
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  To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid
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These restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you
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  For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether
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  The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and
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		    GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
   TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR COPYING, DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

  0. This License applies to any program or other work which contains
a notice placed by the copyright holder saying it may be distributed
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  1. You may copy and distribute verbatim copies of the Program's
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You may charge a fee for the physical act of transferring a copy, and
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  2. You may modify your copy or copies of the Program or any portion
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These requirements apply to the modified work as a whole.  If
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			    NO WARRANTY

  11. BECAUSE THE PROGRAM IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY
FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.  EXCEPT WHEN
OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES
PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED
OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF
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TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU.  SHOULD THE
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  12. IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING
WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR
REDISTRIBUTE THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES,
INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING
OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED
TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY
YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER
PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE
POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

		     END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS
</pre>
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