FreeBSD Handbook : Contributing to FreeBSD : How to Contribute : New code or major value-added packages
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19.2.4. New code or major value-added packages

In the rare case of a significant contribution of a large body work, or the addition of an important new feature to FreeBSD, it becomes almost always necessary to either send changes as uuencode'd tar files or upload them to our ftp site ftp://ftp.FreeBSD.ORG/pub/FreeBSD/incoming.

When working with large amounts of code, the touchy subject of copyrights also invariably comes up. Acceptable copyrights for code included in FreeBSD are:

  1. The BSD copyright. This copyright is most preferred due to its ``no strings attached'' nature and general attractiveness to commercial enterprises. Far from discouraging such commercial use, the FreeBSD Project actively encourages such participation by commercial interests who might eventually be inclined to invest something of their own into FreeBSD.
  2. The GNU Public License, or ``GPL''. This license is not quite as popular with us due to the amount of extra effort demanded of anyone using the code for commercial purposes, but given the sheer quantity of GPL'd code we currently require (compiler, assembler, text formatter, etc) it would be silly to refuse additional contributions under this license. Code under the GPL also goes into a different part of the tree, that being /sys/gnu or /usr/src/gnu, and is therefore easily identifiable to anyone for whom the GPL presents a problem.

Contributions coming under any other type of copyright must be carefully reviewed before their inclusion into FreeBSD will be considered. Contributions for which particularly restrictive commercial copyrights apply are generally rejected, though the authors are always encouraged to make such changes available through their own channels.

To place a ``BSD-style'' copyright on your work, include the following text at the very beginning of every source code file you wish to protect, replacing the text between the `%%' with the appropriate information.

Copyright (c) %%proper_years_here%%
	%%your_name_here%%, %%your_state%%  %%your_zip%%.  All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer as
   the first lines of this file unmodified.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
   documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY %%your_name_here%% ``AS IS'' AND ANY EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED.
IN NO EVENT SHALL %%your_name_here%% BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT
NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE,
DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY
THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT
(INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF
THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.

	$Id$
For your convenience, a copy of this text can be found in /usr/share/examples/etc/bsd-style-copyright.


FreeBSD Handbook : Contributing to FreeBSD : How to Contribute : New code or major value-added packages
Previous: Changes to existing source code
Next: Money, Hardware or Internet access