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2026

Archived version 1 of 2. This is how the model read before it was corrected. It is shown read only. The current version is here.

The 4-Clause BSD License

Also known as 4 Clause BSD License, 4-Clause BSD, 4-Clause BSD License, BSD 4 Clause, BSD-4, BSD-4-Clause, Old BSD License, Original BSD License.

Commercial use
allowed
Share alike
not required
Attribution
required (keep the copyright and license notices)
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Canonical URI https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/BSD-4-Clause

Permissions

  • Charge distribution fee from the text Charging a fee for the act of providing a copy of the work to someone else.
  • Commercial use from the text Using the work to generate income, directly or indirectly, for example by selling it or by using it in advertising.
  • Derivative works from the text Distributing an adaptation of the work and making it available to the public.
  • Derive from the text Creating a new work from the work, such as a translation, adaptation or arrangement of it or of a part of it.

    Duties

    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Notice from the text Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
  • Display from the text Showing the work to the public without making a copy the viewer keeps.
  • Distribute from the text Providing copies of the work to the public or to anyone else.

    Duties

    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Notice from the text Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
  • Modified works from the text Distributing a modified version of the work that does not amount to a new, derivative work.
  • Modify from the text Altering the work, for example by updating it, without creating a new work; an alteration that creates a new work is Derive.

    Duties

    • Attribution from the text Giving credit to the copyright holders or authors of the work, in the form the licensor asks for.
    • Notice from the text Notice: keeping the license and copyright notices with every copy.
  • Present from the text Performing the work in public, including by broadcast or other communication to the public.
  • Reproduce from the text Making copies of the work in any form.

Prohibitions

  • Change license from the text Not permitted: Change license. Replacing the license of the work, or of an adaptation, with another license, or changing its terms.
  • Promote from the text Not permitted: Promote. Using the name or trademarks of the licensor or of contributors to endorse or promote a product.

License-wide duties

This license states no duties that apply to the work as a whole.

Clauses

Additional clauses

All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement: This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors.

Info

Target asset types
Software
Region / jurisdiction
Worldwide
Validity
Perpetual
Source
https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-4-Clause-UC.html
This description is published under
https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/CC-BY-4.0
Publisher
University of California-Specific
SPDX identifier
BSD-4-Clause on the SPDX license list
DALICC identifier
BSD-4-Clause

This record is published under CC BY 4.0. Credit it as: DALICC License Library, DALICC - Verein zur Förderung der Rechtssicherheit in der Datenbewirtschaftung, https://dalicc.net, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The license it describes belongs to its publisher.

History

This license model has 2 versions. Version 2 is the one served today; every earlier version keeps its own address, so a conclusion drawn from one of them can still be checked against it.

  1. Version 2 current2026-09-24 Giray Havur

    The content review of 2026-09-15 added 1 clause text and 1 identification detail, changed 1 clause text and 2 identification details, recorded the relation to the record this one was adapted from and recorded the review state. Later changes brought it in line with its family and its text in the verification of 2026-09-15, permitted relicensing with the notice as a duty, recorded which sentence of the text each statement rests on and named the license the record itself is published under.

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    17 changes

    • added cc:legalcode <https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-4-Clause.html>

      Review finding dct:source pointed at https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-4-Clause-UC.html, the University of California specific license, while spdx:licenseId says BSD-4-Clause, which is the generic one. Repointed dct:source at the generic SPDX page and added the same URL as cc:legalcode, which was missing entirely.

    • added dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer "THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY <COPYRIGHT HOLDER> \"AS IS\" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL <COPYRIGHT HOLDER> BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE."

      Review decision Review decision 11: the record models the generic four-clause text, not the Berkeley variant, so the advertising clause, the disclaimer and the publisher were set to the generic wording.

    • changed dalicc:additionalClauses "All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement: This product includes software developed by the <organization>."

      was dalicc:additionalClauses "All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement: This product includes software developed by the University of California, Berkeley and its contributors."

      Review decision Review decision 11: the record models the generic four-clause text, not the Berkeley variant, so the advertising clause, the disclaimer and the publisher were set to the generic wording.

    • added dalicc:reviewStatus dalicc:Reviewed

      Review state Every record records how far it has come in the editorial workflow and when it was last checked against the legal text.

    • added dalicc:reviewedOn "2026-09-15"^^xsd:date

      Review state Every record records how far it has come in the editorial workflow and when it was last checked against the legal text.

    • added dalicc:variantKind "version"

      Port relation The 2026-09-15 review made the relation between a jurisdiction port and the record it was adapted from explicit in the data.

    • changed dct:publisher "N.N."

      was dct:publisher "University of California-Specific"

      Review decision Review decision 11: the record models the generic four-clause text, not the Berkeley variant, so the advertising clause, the disclaimer and the publisher were set to the generic wording.

    • changed dct:source <https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-4-Clause.html>

      was dct:source <https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-4-Clause-UC.html>

      Review finding dct:source pointed at https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-4-Clause-UC.html, the University of California specific license, while spdx:licenseId says BSD-4-Clause, which is the generic one. Repointed dct:source at the generic SPDX page and added the same URL as cc:legalcode, which was missing entirely.

    • added dalicc:LiabilityLimitation "IN NO EVENT SHALL <COPYRIGHT HOLDER> BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE."

      Manual edit The review's finding on family consistency: the disclaimer paragraph held both sentences and the advertising clause had no duty. The text says 'All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement', which is the new dalicc:advertisingAcknowledgement duty on distribution; dct:publisher was the placeholder 'N.N.'.

    • changed dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer "THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY <COPYRIGHT HOLDER> \"AS IS\" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED."

      was dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer "THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY <COPYRIGHT HOLDER> \"AS IS\" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL <COPYRIGHT HOLDER> BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE."

      Manual edit The review's finding on family consistency: the disclaimer paragraph held both sentences and the advertising clause had no duty. The text says 'All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement', which is the new dalicc:advertisingAcknowledgement duty on distribution; dct:publisher was the placeholder 'N.N.'.

    • removed dct:publisher "N.N."

      Manual edit The review's finding on family consistency: the disclaimer paragraph held both sentences and the advertising clause had no duty. The text says 'All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement', which is the new dalicc:advertisingAcknowledgement duty on distribution; dct:publisher was the placeholder 'N.N.'.

    • changed permission odrl:distribute with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:advertisingAcknowledgement]

      was permission odrl:distribute with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice]

      Manual edit The review's finding on family consistency: the disclaimer paragraph held both sentences and the advertising clause had no duty. The text says 'All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement', which is the new dalicc:advertisingAcknowledgement duty on distribution; dct:publisher was the placeholder 'N.N.'.

    • added permission dalicc:ChangeLicense with duties [dalicc:compliantLicense]

      Manual edit Permit relicensing on permissive licences; the notice clause is a duty, not a bar. Library convention 15: a licence that asks for no reciprocity and no source code asks only that the notice travels with the copy, which is a duty on the acts it governs and not a bar on putting the copy under other terms. dalicc:ChangeLicense is therefore a permission here, and the prohibition the record carried before is removed. The text reads: "Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer." The permission carries the dalicc:compliantLicense duty, as Apache-2.0 does, because the notice has to survive the relicensing.

    • removed prohibition dalicc:ChangeLicense

      Manual edit Permit relicensing on permissive licences; the notice clause is a duty, not a bar. Library convention 15: a licence that asks for no reciprocity and no source code asks only that the notice travels with the copy, which is a duty on the acts it governs and not a bar on putting the copy under other terms. dalicc:ChangeLicense is therefore a permission here, and the prohibition the record carried before is removed. The text reads: "Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: 1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer." The permission carries the dalicc:compliantLicense duty, as Apache-2.0 does, because the notice has to survive the relicensing.

    • changed permission dalicc:ChangeLicense with duties [dalicc:compliantLicense]

      was permission dalicc:ChangeLicense with duties [dalicc:compliantLicense]

      Manual edit The statement is marked as a library convention, family rule 15: Permissive records permit relicensing: the text does not state it in as many words. Its duty dalicc:compliantLicense is marked as a library convention, family rule 15: Permissive records permit relicensing.

    • changed permission odrl:distribute with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:advertisingAcknowledgement]

      was permission odrl:distribute with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:advertisingAcknowledgement]

      Manual edit Its duty dalicc:advertisingAcknowledgement quotes "All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement: This product includes software developed by the organization."

    • added dct:license <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>

      Manual edit Every record is published under CC BY 4.0. cc:license names the record DALICC keeps of that licence; dct:license now names it by the address Creative Commons publishes it at, so that a consumer matching the canonical IRI finds it.

  2. Version 1

    The version this model had before the content review of 2026-09-15.

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Every change names the reason behind it: a finding of the content review, one of its library-wide decisions, the metadata that review wrote onto every record, or a hand edit. None of it is legal advice.

Nothing on this page is legal advice. What a license means is decided by its text; ask a legal advisor before you rely on it.