> Date: Fri, 29 May 1998 14:51:49 -0700 (PDT)
> From: SamMaEl <rimsky@teleport.com>
> To: current-users@NetBSD.ORG
> Subject: Re: Sendmail 8.9.0

> > >How about leaving sendmail 8.8.8 in the source tree (it will always have a
> > >BSD license, right?), and putting 8.9.* in /usr/pkgsrc?  That way, the
> > >intellectual acrobatics (of changing from what's installed by default to
> > >what people supposedly want to run) are minimized.

> 	Aye. Probably much less headache, in the end... beyond making the
> package, which would essentially have to be done anyways to integrate it.

If the end result of this process is that Sendmail 8.9 isn't integrated
into the tree, then this is the obvious and logical result.

> > #
> > # LICENSE: Do whatever you want with it. 
> > #

> 	Now... someone earlier brought up the idea of continuing where
> 8.8.8 left off, without having to worry about the license restrictions on
> 8.9. On another list there has been a whole long, heated discussion on
> (guess) licensing, because of a bit of code someone added to a program
> that the author did not like. Now, the author is changing the license to
> stipulate that anyone adding this bit of code is violating the terms of
> the license.

> 	My first question: could the sendmail people do something like
> this? Is that legal? That is, is it legal if such a thing is not in the
> original license... for example, if the license does not say that the
> author reserves the right to modify the license in the future, or some
> such. Or, is the original license that ships with the product that is
> recieved hold, even if a later shipment of the SAME product carries a
> different license. For example, if the sendmail people changed the 8.8.8
> license, would it be binding to NetBSD, or just people who downloaded the
> copy of 8.8.8 with the new license?

Remember, I am not a lawyer, this is just my opinion.

The latter. Since the code shipped by Eric, et al, for Sendmail 8.8.8
has the standard UCB license, and that code was deliberately and legally
distributed, the license holds. UCB thought the license through.

However, the UCB license certainly allows Sendmail, Inc. to ship 8.9 with
the new license, even with the new license covering code shipped in 8.8.8.
One is simply free to go and get the 8.8.8 code somewhere else.

Thanks,
David