Re: Updating the PHP license

On 2024-05-19 14:53, Ben Ramsey wrote:
> One of my goals with the RFC is to get rid of the idea of a “PHP License,” so it deprecates the PHP License and *replaces* it with the BSD 3-Clause License. I don’t want there to be a “PHP License, version 4.0.” I think that will continue to cause confusion in the community.

You (the copyright holders) could do both. That is, the PHP 4.0 license 
would be the same wording (other than the name) as BSD 3-Clause. That 
way, you trigger the "any subsequent version" clause, but then you also 
subsequently relicense PHP itself under BSD 3-Clause directly. This 
would indicate a clear intention that the PHP License is deprecated, 
while still getting the "any subsequent version" benefits for existing 
software.

Of course, this assumes that you WANT to trigger that option for 
third-party projects, which you may or may not. (I think you should want 
that, but it's not my code, so my opinion doesn't really matter.)

> Is there a reading of clause 5 (specifically “You may also choose to use such covered code under the terms of any subsequent version of the license published by the PHP Group.”) that would allow projects using the PHP License to switch to the BSD 3-Clause License, even if a subsequent version 4.0 of the PHP License is not published?

IMHO (IANAL, etc.), no.

-- 
Richard

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