Editing Ncurses (section)

==License==
ncurses is a part of the [[GNU Project]], but is not distributed under the [[GNU General Public License]] (GPL) or [[GNU Lesser General Public License]] (LGPL). Instead, it is distributed under a [[permissive free software licence]], i.e., the [[MIT License]].<ref name="Is it GPL">{{cite web |url=http://invisible-island.net/ncurses/ncurses.faq.html#is_it_gpl |title=NCURSES - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ): Is it GPL'd?}}</ref> This is due to the agreement made with the [[Free Software Foundation]] at the time the developers assigned their copyright.

When the agreement was made to pass on the rights to the FSF, there was a clause that stated:<ref name="Is it GPL"/>
<blockquote>
The Foundation promises that all distribution of the Package, or of any work "based on the Package", that takes place under the control of the Foundation or its agents or assignees, shall be on terms that explicitly and perpetually permit anyone possessing a copy of the work to which the terms apply, and possessing accurate notice of these terms, to redistribute copies of the work to anyone on the same terms.
</blockquote>
According to the maintainer Thomas E. Dickey, this precludes relicensing to the GPL in any version, since it would place restrictions on the programs that will be able to link to the libraries.<ref name="Is it GPL"/>