{"id":"BSD-4-Clause","title":"The 4-Clause BSD License","reviewed_on":"2026-09-15","reviewer":"Giray Havur","text_source":"https://raw.githubusercontent.com/spdx/license-list-data/main/text/BSD-4-Clause.txt","text_retrieved":true,"verdict":"corrected","summary":"The record models the original four-clause BSD license and quotes the advertising acknowledgement in dalicc:additionalClauses. Its identification pointed at the University of California variant while the SPDX id and the quoted clause are the generic four-clause text; the URLs were corrected and a legal-code link added.","findings":[{"rubric":1,"severity":"major","field":"dct:source","description":"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.","action":"applied","change":"cc:legalcode <https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-4-Clause.html> ;\ndct:source <https://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-4-Clause.html> ;\n"},{"rubric":6,"severity":"minor","field":"dalicc:additionalClauses","description":"The quoted advertising clause names the University of California, which belongs to the UC variant rather than to the generic four-clause text. Correcting a published literal is left open for the association's decision; the alternative is to change spdx:licenseId to BSD-4-Clause-UC instead and keep the clause. One or the other has to give.","action":"proposed","change":"# either\ndalicc:additionalClauses \"All advertising materials mentioning features or use of this software must display the following acknowledgement: This product includes software developed by <organisation>.\" ;\n# or\nspdx:licenseId \"BSD-4-Clause-UC\" ;\n"},{"rubric":1,"severity":"minor","field":"dct:publisher","description":"dct:publisher is \"University of California-Specific\", which is a label from the SPDX page title, not a publisher. Same decision as the clause text above.","action":"proposed","change":"dct:publisher \"The Regents of the University of California\" ;\n"},{"rubric":6,"severity":"minor","field":"dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer","description":"No warranty disclaimer, although the text carries the usual BSD paragraph. Not applied because it would be the third change to a record whose identity (generic or UC variant) is still open.","action":"proposed","change":"dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer \"THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS \\\"AS IS\\\" ...\" ;\n"},{"rubric":3,"severity":"major","field":"odrl:prohibition","description":"dalicc:ChangeLicense is prohibited without textual support, same as in the other BSD records.","action":"superseded","superseded_by":2,"change":"# remove\nodrl:prohibition [ a odrl:Prohibition ;\n        odrl:action dalicc:ChangeLicense ] ;\n"},{"rubric":10,"severity":"major","field":"record","description":"Standard-license addition of 2026-09-15, decision 9: the record was corrected against its new siblings and versioned. 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.'.","action":"applied"}],"family":"BSD family (0BSD, 2, 3 and 4 clause)","port_of":null,"variant_kind":"version","notes":"The identity of this record (generic four-clause text or the University of California variant) needs a decision of the association."}