[tor-bugs] #31498 [Core Tor/Tor]: clarify that tor's license is free software / open source

[Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki]

#31498: clarify that tor's license is free software / open source
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     Reporter:  arma          |      Owner:  (none)
         Type:  enhancement   |     Status:  new
     Priority:  Medium        |  Milestone:
    Component:  Core Tor/Tor  |    Version:
     Severity:  Normal        |   Keywords:
Actual Points:                |  Parent ID:
       Points:                |   Reviewer:
      Sponsor:                |
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 One of our Tor people was just asking whether Tor's license is OSI-
 approved.

 The answer is yes, it's distributed under the 3-clause bsd license:
 https://gitweb.torproject.org/tor.git/tree/LICENSE#n12

 But that description in the license file could be even clearer, for people
 who don't already recognize the text of the 3-clause bsd license.

 I propose this change:
 {{{
 diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
 index cc27668427..438208426c 100644
 --- a/LICENSE
 +++ b/LICENSE
 @@ -9,7 +9,8 @@
          there may be other license terms that you should be aware of.

 ===============================================================================
 -Tor is distributed under this license:
 +Tor is distributed under the "3-clause BSD" license, a commonly used
 +software license that means Tor is both free software and open source:

  Copyright (c) 2001-2004, Roger Dingledine
  Copyright (c) 2004-2006, Roger Dingledine, Nick Mathewson
 }}}

 I admit there is a bit of politics in my proposed change, but it's hard to
 describe free software licenses without a bit of politics creeping in, and
 this seems to me like a balanced approach.

 Nick, feel free to do the commit if you're ok with it, or tell me and I
 will.

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/31498>
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