Please note: I have not sent a legal analysis of this license to [EMAIL PROTECTED], because your document "Getting a License Approved" indicates that such an analysis should come from a licensed lawyer. I have no such person at my disposal, not can I afford to pay for one. I do not believe such an analysis is necessary because my license is essentially cut and pasted together from many existing OSI-approved licenses. If such an analysis is an absolute requirement, I regret to have wasted your time.
My goal in creating the WSOSL was to create a license that did what I wanted (keep free software free, preserve copyright) and little else. I also wanted to keep it short. My initial goal was to create a license similar in length to the BSD license, and while I failed in this, I still think my license is short enough that your average Joe Chipset PC user out there could manage to read all of it without dying of boredom. One of the greatest issues I see with the GPL is that it is far too long - according to a recent Slashdot poll most people don't seem to bother reading it, despite using tons of software that's released under its terms. The same could be said about practically any EULA. In creating my license, I essentially cut and pasted together the bits I wanted from several existing OSI-approved licenses, most notably the BSD, MIT and GPL licenses, re-wording as I felt necessary.
My license is the most similar to the GPL in that it ensures that free software stays free and available to the public free of charge, regardless of how many times it's modified. It also ensures that the original author (which would be me, in the license I've attached - however, my name could easily be swapped out for someone else's) is credited for his or her hard work.
As for precedence, if software licensed under the WSOSL is combined with another OS-licensed work, then the WSOSL must take precedence. However, the WSOSL is not designed to be incompatible with other open source licenses, in the sense that code originally licensed under, for example, the BSD or MIT license could be re-licensed under the WSOSL with little difficulty.
The full text of the WSOSL version 1 follows:
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The Wilhelm Svenselius Open Source License version 1.0
This software is copyright (c) Wilhelm Svenselius, 2003 All rights reserved.
Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and any associated files ("the Software"), to use and distribute the Software, in source and binary form, with or without modification, provided that the following conditions are met:
1. All distributions of source code must retain all copyright notices present in the original, and the following notice contained and prominently displayed in each document:
This Software is licensed under the terms of The Wilhelm Svenselius Open Source License version 1.0 Please see license.txt for details.
Where license.txt is the name of a file, which contains the full unmodified text of this License, and which must be included in the distribution.
2. All distributions of the Software in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, as well as the full text of this License, in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. All distributions of the Software in binary form must include, in the
documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution, a notice in English describing how to obtain the full source code, including any modifications, without charge. Preferably, the source should be included in the distribution or downloadable via the Internet. The source code must be in the preferred form in which a programmer would modify the program.
4. Products derived from or containing any part of the Software must not carry the same name as the Software without specific prior written permission.
5. The name "Wilhelm Svenselius" must not be used to endorse or promote products derived from or containing any part of the Software without specific prior written permission.
6. Products derived from or containing any part of the Software must be
licensed as a whole at NO CHARGE to all third parties under the terms of this license.
You are not required to accept this License. However, nothing else grants you permission to modify or distribute the Software or works derived from it. These actions are prohibited by international law if you do not accept this License.
By modifying or distributing any part of the Software in any form, you confirm your acceptance of this License in full.
If any part of this License is declared unenforceable or invalid for any reason, this License in its entirety is void and you may only use the Software as international copyright law permits, meaning you may no longer modify or distribute any part of the Software in any form.
BECAUSE THIS SOFTWARE IS LICENSED FREE OF CHARGE, THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE SOFTWARE, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE SOFTWARE "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE SOFTWARE IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE SOFTWARE PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.
IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MAY MODIFY AND/OR REDISTRIBUTE THE SOFTWARE AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE SOFTWARE (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE SOFTWARE TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER SOFTWARES), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.
This License complies with version 1.9 of the Open Source Definition, as defined at: http://www.opensource.org/docs/definition_plain.html
This License is (c) copyright Wilhelm Svenselius 2003, all rights reserved. Unmodified copies of this license may be distributed freely.
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Most Sincerely, Wilhelm Svenselius
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