Talk:MIT License

Untitled comments

Suggest that someone creates a section explaining the freedoms and restrictions of this license, rather than just the quoted licence. Perhaps a comparison to GPL/LGPL/BSD.

I created this page based on the Open Source Initiative's definition of the MIT License. However, I now notice that the Free Software Foundation considers the name "MIT License" ambiguous. So, I'll update the page (soon) with that dispute in mind. -- Mattworld 00:15, 14 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Aside: I now recall that I didn't create the page, but greatly improved upon it from a piece of source text. -- Mattworld 00:17, 14 Oct 2003 (UTC)

I added a very short, simple intro sentence so the casual reader will know if this is an article they want to read. It may need a little fleshing out from more knowledgable writers (a mention of open source, perhaps) - but please, keep it short and easy, aimed at the non-technical reader. Those who already know what the license is and seek more details can skip the intro, but those who are clueless need some context. DavidWBrooks 14:12, 24 Dec 2003 (UTC)

Anyone fancy adding a comparison with the GPL? It seems an obvious and important point of comparison, unless I'm missing something... Oolong 16:18, 19 May 2005 (BST)

Question about the BSD-MIT-comparison: does this text have to appear in binary distributions of the software. I'm asking because the BSD-license makes an extra clause for this situation. - 84.179.201.32 19:09, 5 November 2005 (UTC)

x.org reorg

http://wiki.x.org/Downloads_terms.html ( old site of X license ) doesn't show up anymore, but archive.org archive of http://www.x.org/Downloads_terms.html still does, and is different than the text of this license.

Could someone try staring a "variations" section?

I know XFree86 use a modified version of the MIT license, and since there are so many names for this license, I guess that others will also have modified it. This seems to be worth starting a section about. Gronky 16:00, 1 February 2006 (UTC)

Public Domain?

What's the difference between this license and public domain? --Zarel 15:08, 28 July 2006 (UTC)

It's an explicit copyright license (which removes any uncertainty about whether the work is in the public domain or not), it disclaims warranty (which you can't do with a public domain work -- although the case law that started the whole warranty disclaimer thing may not apply to public domain works), and it tells you that you can't claim that it's MIT's or BSD's work. RussNelson 15:08, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

GPL Compatible

"Specifically, it is a GPL-compatible permissive license, meaning that it permits reuse within proprietary software on the condition that the license is distributed with that software." - I'm pretty sure that's not what GPL compatible means. I will change this but someone please check. —Preceding unsigned comment added by ErikHaugen (talk • contribs) 22:58, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Read proprietary as restrictive to get a better understanding. For instance, GPL is restrictive (down near the bottom of the scale). MIT license permits reuse within GPL code - which is no different than within any other type of restrictive license Tedickey 23:14, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

It sounds like you're saying "proprietary software" here has been coopted to mean something other than it's actual meaning in order to make a point? It would be nice to spell that out in a "controversy" section or something rather than using confusing word choices, if I understand you correctly. "proprietary software" in that sentence is wikilinked to a page that doesn't really jive with calling GPL "proprietary." ErikHaugen 23:32, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

yes - rather than using a neutral presentation which would have used a comparison between permissive licenses (already linked) to restrictive licenses, it was phrased to offer the reader only the choice between "proprietary" and "GPL". The permissive license topic also lacks a neutral point of view, since it leads back in a circle... Tedickey 23:38, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

does this "infect" other proprietary licenses?

If i use a piece of MIT licensed code together with other code, does that code also has to become MIT licensed code? or it can stay closed-sourced? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.180.229.215 (talk) 14:23, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

No - it doesn't affect the other licenses. Tedickey (talk) 14:50, 7 March 2008 (UTC)

I find this confusing because of the requirement to include the Copyright and the Permission notices "in all copies or substantial portions of the Software". It reads plainly on "this software and associated documentation files". It seems to me that if the MIT License is included within a collection that contains both some MIT Licensed code and some other code, then the License would read on the collection as a whole. I.e. "this software" without the caps, having its plain language meaning, would be taken to me "the software with which this license is included", wouldn't it? How does it not affect the other licenses? --Fbg00 (talk) 23:08, 11 March 2009 (UTC)

It doesn't say that you have to include the notice in other files that happen to be collected together with it, nor does it restrict the collection of files that are used to compile and run a program. Tedickey (talk) 00:09, 12 March 2009 (UTC)

Date of MIT license

The current wording dates from 1988 (unspecified day/month) and often is found in conjunction with a copyright notice for Digital Equipment Corporation. At the moment, the oldest sources for X online appear in ftp://ftp.x.org/pub/X10R3/X.V10R3.tar.gz for Febrary 2, 1986, worded as follows (same idea, different expression):

X.V10R3/X/mit-copyright.h

/*

Copyright 1985 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
software and its documentation for any purpose and without
fee is hereby granted, provided that the above copyright
notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright
notice and this permission notice appear in supporting
documentation, and that the name of M.I.T. not be used in
advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the
software without specific, written prior permission.
M.I.T. makes no representations about the suitability of
this software for any purpose.  It is provided "as is"
without express or implied warranty.

This software is not subject to any license of the American
Telephone and Telegraph Company or of the Regents of the
University of California.

*/

Tedickey (talk) 13:41, 23 May 2009 (UTC)

History of the MIT license

Here's some first hand history, from my memory...

X was developed jointly between MIT Project Athena and MIT Laboratory for Computer Science. I was working on Project Athena (I was a Digital Equipment Corporation engineer at the time): and Bob Scheifler was at LCS. There was much interest in X, which was one of the first window systems (particularly portable window systems), and MIT had to decide what to do about it. Some of us (myself included) argued that by licensing X liberally, MIT would benefit more from applications than anything it could get in revenue from trying to license it, particularly since the terms of Project Athena was that Digital and IBM would have license to results of Athena.

Jerry Saltzer, then technical director of Project Athena, worked with the MIT lawyers to draft the license language, IIRC; I remember seeing a draft, reading it, and saying that this seemed to fit the bill to achieve everyone's ends. So MIT blessed it, and I remember a massive editing session to update the copyrights on the source code, which then went out in the X10R3, which I shepherded (along with all the releases through X11R1, roughly, though others helped loads...).

You can figure out when X11R3 shipped from modification dates in that original tarball, though it may have been updated slightly after its initial release for a security bug, if vague memory and some investigation serves me correctly.

I've got mail buried somewhere likely of much of this.

--JimGettys (talk) 21:58, 20 July 2009 (UTC)