[TUHS] Can Ancient Unix be relicensed?

[Anton Shepelev]

Warner Losh to Anton Shepelev:

> > In 2002, Caldera released Ancient Unix code under
> > Caldera license:
> >
> >    <https://www.tuhs.org/Archive/Caldera-license.pdf>
> >
> > based on the four-clause BSD license:
> >
> >    <https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-4-Clause.html>
> >
> > [...]
> > Unfortunately, the 4-clause BSD license is incompatible
> > with GPL:
> >
> >    <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#OriginalBSD>
> >
> > The incompatibilty is due entirely to the infamous third
> > clause about adverising.  Three years prior to Caldera's
> > release of old Unix code, The Berkley Univercity removed
> > this clause, producing the GNU-compatible modified BSD
> > License:
> > [...]
> > That said, is there a chance that the copyright holder
> > of Ancient Will agree to release a similar note
> > regarding everything released under Caldera license?
>
> That's a complicated question.
> [...snipped.but.read...]

Complicated indeed, and to a degree I should not have
expected.

So it was not an arbitrary decision by Caldera to use the
original BSD license?  Can they have used the modern three-
clause version with equal ease?

> Finding the right people inside the current company to
> talk to is hard. It's not their promary business. It's not
> clear how many rights they have.  It's hard to show how it
> could benefit them.

No worldly benefit; the bare goodwill is all I can hope for.

> So I'm doubtful. Your best bet is to not make your changes
> available under the GPL.

The four-clause BSD license excludes not only GPL itself,
but (I think) the many GPL-compatible licenses.  The
simplest thing for me to do is probably to keep the BSD-like
Caldera license.  Thanks for the feedback, Warner!