xref: /web-php/license/index.php (revision b0763029)
1<?php
2$_SERVER['BASE_PAGE'] = 'license/index.php';
3include_once __DIR__ . '/../include/prepend.inc';
4
5$SIDEBAR_DATA = <<<EOF
6<aside>
7  <h3>Contents</h3>
8
9  <ol>
10   <li><a href="#code-lic">PHP Codebase</a></li>
11   <li><a href="#doc-lic">PHP Documentation</a></li>
12   <li><a href="#web-lic">PHP Website</a></li>
13   <li><a href="#logo-lic">PHP Logo</a></li>
14   <li><a href="#faq-lic">FAQ's</a></li>
15   <li><a href="#other-lic">Licensing information for related projects</a></li>
16  </ol>
17</aside>
18EOF;
19
20site_header("License Information", ["current" => "help"]);
21?>
22
23<h1>PHP Licensing</h1>
24
25<a id="code-lic"></a>
26<h2>PHP Codebase</h2>
27
28<ul>
29 <li>
30  Starting with PHP 4, versions of the PHP software are distributed under the
31  <a href="http://www.php.net/license/3_01.txt">PHP License v3.01</a>, copyright (c) the <a href="/credits.php">PHP Group</a>.
32  <ul>
33   <li>
34    This is an <a href="http://www.opensource.org/docs/osd">Open Source license</a>,
35    certified by the Open Source Initiative.
36   </li>
37   <li>
38    The PHP license is a BSD-style license which does not have the "copyleft"
39    restrictions associated with GPL.
40   </li>
41  </ul>
42 </li>
43 <li>
44  Some files have been contributed under other (compatible) licenses and carry
45  additional requirements and copyright information.<br>
46  This is indicated in the license + copyright comment block at the top of the source file.
47 </li>
48 <li>
49  Practical Guidelines:
50  <ul>
51   <li><a href="/license/distrib-guidelines-code.php">Distributing PHP</a></li>
52   <li><a href="/license/contrib-guidelines-code.php">Contributing to PHP</a></li>
53  </ul>
54 </li>
55</ul>
56
57<a id="doc-lic"></a>
58<h2>PHP Documentation</h2>
59
60<ul>
61 <li>
62  The PHP manual text and comments are covered by the
63  <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode">Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License</a>,
64  copyright (c) the PHP Documentation Group
65 </li>
66 <li><a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/">Summary</a> in human-readable form</li>
67 <li>Practical Information: <a href="https://doc.php.net/guide/">Contribution Guide</a></li>
68</ul>
69
70<a id="web-lic"></a>
71<h2>PHP Website</h2>
72
73<ul>
74 <li>The Website copyright can be viewed here: <a href="/copyright.php">Website Copyright</a></li>
75</ul>
76
77<a id="logo-lic"></a>
78<h2>PHP Logo</h2>
79
80<ul>
81 <li>The Logo license terms can be viewed on the <a href="/download-logos.php">Logo and Icon Download page</a></li>
82</ul>
83
84<a id="faq-lic"></a>
85<h2>Frequently Asked Questions</h2>
86
87<!-- Selected FAQ points from former page on License Information [v 1.13] -->
88<!-- Comments ref.old versions of PHP license prior to v3.0 have been removed -->
89
90<h3>Use of the "PHP" name</h3>
91<p>
92<strong>Q.</strong> I've written a project in PHP that I'm going to release
93as open source, and I'd like to call it PHPTransmogrifier. Is that
94OK?
95</p>
96
97<p>
98<strong>A.</strong>
99We cannot really stop you from using PHP in the name of
100your project unless you include any code from the PHP distribution, in
101which case you would be violating the license.
102See Clause 4 in the <a href="http://www.php.net/license/3_01.txt">
103PHP License v3.01</a>.
104<br>But we would really prefer if people would come up with their own names
105independent of the  PHP name.
106</p>
107
108<p>
109"Why?" you ask. You are only trying to contribute to the PHP
110community. That may be true, but by using the PHP name you are
111explicitly linking your efforts to those of the entire PHP development
112community and the years of work that has gone into the PHP project.
113Every time a flaw is found in one of the thousands of applications out
114there that call themselves "PHP-Something" the negative karma that
115generates reflects unfairly on the entire PHP project. We had nothing
116to do with PHP-Nuke, for example, and every bugtraq posting on that
117says "PHP" in it. Your particular project may in fact be the greatest
118thing ever, but we have to be consistent in how we handle these
119requests and we honestly have no way of knowing whether your project
120is actually the greatest thing ever.
121</p>
122
123<p>
124So, please, pick a name that stands on its own merits. If your
125stuff is good, it will not take long to establish a reputation for
126yourselves. Look at Zope, for example, that is a framework for Python
127that doesn't have Python in the name. Smarty as well doesn't have PHP
128in the name and does quite well.
129</p>
130
131<h3>Change in licensing from PHP 4 onwards</h3>
132<p>
133<strong>Q.</strong> Why is PHP 4 not dual-licensed under the GNU General
134Public License (GPL) like PHP 3 was?
135</p>
136
137<p>
138<strong>A.</strong> GPL enforces many restrictions on what can and cannot
139be done with the licensed code. The PHP developers decided to
140release PHP under a much more loose license (Apache-style), to help
141PHP become as popular as possible.
142</p>
143
144<a id="other-lic"></a>
145<h2>Licensing information for related projects</h2>
146
147<p>
148For related projects, please refer to licensing information on the Project websites:
149</p>
150<ul>
151  <li><a href="http://pecl.php.net/copyright.php">PECL</a></li>
152  <li><a href="http://pear.php.net/copyright.php">PEAR</a></li>
153</ul>
154
155<?php site_footer(['sidebar' => $SIDEBAR_DATA]);
156