BSD versus public domain - an answer

[Karl Kleinpaste]

About a week ago, I posted a query to net.unix-wizards, asking about the
issue of public domain software from BSD releases.  I got a very good
answer from Bill Shannon of Sun Microsystems.  Here is his reply.
----------
    [me:]
    I saw a note in net.sources recently claiming that csh is not in
    the public domain.  This confuses me, as I was under the sincere
    delusion that it was most definitely public domain.  I would think
    that csh would be like any other Berkeley-originated software:
    since it was created with public funds at a public university,
    anything from a BSD release which is not derived from AT&T code
    is public domain.

[Bill:]
That's just it.  Berkeley (actually the Regents of the University of
California) makes NO claim that any part of any BSD release is not derived
from AT&T code.  The Berkeley license that you must sign to get the code
says that you must treat all the code you get as if it were derived
from AT&T code.  This is a legal issue, the technical issue of whether
or not it actually was derived is irrelevant.

		     For example, I know that Berkeley Mail is a
    public domain creation.

If you can legally get a copy of the Berkeley Mail source without
signing the Berkeley license, then it is in the public domain.
----------
I should add editorially that I asked Mark Horton a while back about
Berkeley Mail, and he informed me that it is indeed public domain.

I wrote back to Bill for a little additional information...
----------
    Thanx much for the clarification.  I guess I got what I needed.  Would
    I be safe with the statement that anyone with a plain AT&T license for
    System 5 or some such similar release could legally use csh, even without
    a BSD license?

I believe this is true, since Berkeley allows to you duplicate their
distribution within the constraints of the AT&T license.  They just
don't want to hear from you if you didn't get the distribution from
them (which is not to say they do want to hear from you if you did
get it from them; no support, you know).

A System V (or III) or 32V license should be sufficient.  V7 is on
the hairy edge since you can't get 4.2bsd with a V7 license, but you
can get 2.9bsd, which contains a version of the csh (but not necessarily
the 4.2bsd version).
----------
And just so everyone knows I have permission to post this...
----------
    I already have two other messages requesting me to forward any answers
    I get on this.  Would you mind if I forwarded your response to them?

No, not at all.  Please do.  Post it to the net if you feel it is of
general interest.

					Bill Shannon
					Sun Microsystems, Inc
-- 
Karl Kleinpaste @ Bell Labs, Columbus   614/860-5107    {cbosgd,ihnp4}!cbrma!kk