Source and Binary Forms of Code

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In the late 1980s, when the BSD license was new, software was written in source code and compiled into a binary form for execution. Those terms now have more complex practical meanings, with computer programs written in a variety of languages and executed by computers in many forms other than binary.

The phrase source code is assumed to mean the form of the software in which it was originally written by a human being. Used in this way in the BSD license, the phrase source code does not necessarily include any documentation about the program or even instructions on how to modify the source code.

Nothing in the BSD license actually requires the publication of the source code, either by the licensor of the original software or by the licensee of modified versions. Distribution in source form is merely permitted . However, any software someone might attempt to distribute under the BSD license without at least making source code available upon a licensee's request would, as a practical matter, merely be ignored by the open source community; it would find no projects willing to accept it.

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Open Source Licensing. Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law
Open Source Licensing: Software Freedom and Intellectual Property Law
ISBN: 0131487876
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 166

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