| --- |
| title: "CentOS Project Licensing Policy" |
| --- |
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| # CentOS Project licensing policy |
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| ## Definitions |
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| A “Contribution” is any contribution to the CentOS Project, but does not include (a) already-existing upstream software or content that merely is packaged, or is intended to be packaged, in CentOS Linux or CentOS Stream, or changes or additions to such already-existing software or content, or (b) material intended to be used for CentOS project logos. |
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| Your Contribution is “Explicitly Licensed” if you specifically attach a license notice to it. |
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| “Default License” means the license you grant under this policy for a Contribution that is not Explicitly Licensed. |
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| “Code” means software code, RPM spec files, or any functional material whose principal purpose is to control or facilitate the building of packages. |
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| ## Distributions |
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| The CentOS Linux and CentOS Stream distributions are [compilations](https://www.law.cornell.edu/definitions/uscode.php?width=840&height=800&iframe=true&def_id=17-USC-2076770877-364936160&term_occur=999&term_src=title:17:chapter:1:section:101) of software packages. Each package is governed by its own license. Like Red Hat Enterprise Linux, the CentOS Linux and CentOS Stream compilation copyright is licensed under [GPLv2](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.en.html). To the extent you hold any copyright in the selection, coordination, or arrangement of packages making up the CentOS Linux or CentOS Stream distributions, you license that copyright under GPLv2. |
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| The compilation license does not supersede the licenses of code and content contained in the distributions, including anything you may have contributed to that pre-existing material. The complete licensing terms applicable to a given package can be found in the source code of the package. |
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| ## Explicitly Licensed Contributions |
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| Explicitly Licensed Contributions can be under any of the open source or open content licenses considered acceptable for the [Fedora Project](https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Licensing:Main?rd=Licensing). |
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| ## CentOS.org Content |
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| As of 2020-04-23, new content published on [www.centos.org](https://www.centos.org/), [wiki.centos.org](https://wiki.centos.org), [docs.centos.org](https://docs.centos.org), and [blog.centos.org](https://blog.centos.org) is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 [International Public License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) (CC BY-SA 4.0), except as otherwise indicated in this document or the content itself. Accordingly, the Default License for Contributions to such content is CC BY-SA 4.0, with attribution solely to the CentOS Project. |
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| ## Licensed Repositories |
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| The Default License for Contributions to a CentOS Project repository that contains notice of a license is that same license. |
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| ## Code Contributions |
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| The Default License for Contributions of Code is the MIT license, as follows: |
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| Copyright Contributors to the CentOS Project. |
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| Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of |
| this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the |
| Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, |
| copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the |
| Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, |
| subject to the following conditions: |
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| The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all |
| copies or substantial portions of the Software. |
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| THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, |
| INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A |
| PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT |
| HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION |
| OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE |
| SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE. |
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| ## Other Contributions |
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| The Default License for Contributions not otherwise addressed in this policy, including mailing list postings, forum posts, website design elements, and content in issues and comments submitted to the [CentOS Bug Tracker](https://bugs.centos.org), is the [CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) (CC0). |
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| ## CentOS Logos |
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| CentOS logos are covered by the [CentOS Trademark Guidelines](https://www.centos.org/legal/trademarks/) and not within the scope of this policy. If you want to contribute to the development of CentOS logos, please contact the CentOS Governing Board. |
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| ## Date |
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| This policy is in effect as of 2020-04-23. |