[ntp:questions] Re: Licence doubt

Heiko Gerstung heiko.gerstung_removeme_ at meinberg.de
Tue Mar 1 10:54:52 UTC 2005


Hi José!

Jose schrieb:
> Hi all.
> 
> After reading the related RFCs and visited the web site, I have a doubt:
> 
> Can I get the source code that is available from the server and change it
> according to my needs?
> 
> I mean, I need the NTP protocol be running as a client in a QNX machine, but
> at the same time, instead of
> only setting the time in the local machine, I would like to let this task
> ( ntpdate for example) dialog with
> another task of mine.
> 
> Does any kind of the license prevent me from do this thing or I can change
> the code as far as I like?
> 

IANAL (=I am not a lawyer), but the copyright notice 
(http://ntp.isc.org/bin/view/Main/NTPcopyrightStatement) reads

* Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute this software       *
* and its documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby     *
* granted, provided that the above copyright notice appears in all    *

That - I would say - grants you the right to use and modify it for your 
needs, you may even distribute it to your customers. It is important 
that you include the copyright notice in your version and that you do 
not use the name of the University of Delaware for advertisements or 
other marketing actions and that you are aware of the fact that no one 
can be held responsible when things go wrong, just look in the mirror 
and sing "Me, myself and I" (famous phrase taken from a DeLaSoul song).

If you want to be _really_ sure, you should show the NTP copyright 
notice to your lawyer and let him make a statement.


> Thanks in advance
> regards
> José

Kind regards,
Heiko

[...]


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