The PHP project has long shipped under its own license — except for
the parts under the Zend Engine License. The PHP project has now
announced
that the PHP license has been retired, and the PHP code has been relicensed
under the three-clause BSD license. See
this
blog entry for more details.
Getting here required more than writing an
RFC. The PHP License gives the PHP Group the authority to
change it, which meant tracking down each of the original PHP Group
members and getting their written consent. Each approved the
proposal. Perforce Software, the successor to Zend Technologies,
needed to sign off on the Zend Engine side, as well. They provided
a formal letter confirming their full authority and support for the
change. I hired an attorney to review the proposal and provide
advice on any legal questions that might surface during the
discussion period. Speaking of which, I allowed for a six-month
community discussion period preceding the vote, which passed
unanimously.
LWN covered the license-change process back in March.