Editing XFree86 (section)

=== 2004: Licensing controversy ===

Versions of XFree86 up to and including some release candidates for 4.4.0 were under the [[MIT License]], a [[permissive free software license|permissive]], non-[[copyleft]] free software license. In February 2004, XFree86 4.4 was released with a change to the XFree86 license, by adding a credit clause,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xfree86.org/legal/licenses.html |title=XFree86 Licenses| access-date=2008-05-02| publisher=XFree86 Project, Inc.| date=2005-01-01}}</ref> similar to that in the original [[BSD license]],<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2004-January/001892.html |title=Announcement: Modification to the base XFree86 license |access-date=2007-07-12 |last=Dawes |first=David |date=2004-01-29 |publisher=XFree86 Project |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930185719/http://www.xfree86.org/pipermail/forum/2004-January/001892.html |archive-date=2007-09-30 }}</ref> but broader in scope.  The newer terms are referred to as the XFree86 License 1.1.
Many projects relying on XFree86 found the new license unacceptable,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/04/02/18/131223.shtml?tid=104 |title= XFree86 4.4: List of Rejecting Distributors Grows |access-date=2007-07-12 |date=2004-02-18 |publisher=[[Slashdot]] }}</ref> and the [[Free Software Foundation]] considers it incompatible with the version 2 of the [[GNU General Public License]], though compatible with version 3.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#XFree861.1License |title=Various Licenses and Comments about Them |access-date=2013-03-12 |publisher=[[Free Software Foundation]] }}</ref> The XFree86 Project states that the license is "as GPL compatible as any and all previous versions were", but does not mention which version or versions of the GPL this is valid for.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.xfree86.org/legal/licenses.html |title=XFree86 Licenses |access-date=2007-07-12 |date=2005-01-01 |publisher=XFree86 Project }}</ref>

Some projects made releases (notably [[OpenBSD]] 3.5 and 3.6, and [[Debian]] 3.1 "Sarge") based on XFree86 version 4.4 RC2, the last version under the old license. Most operating systems incorporating XFree86 (including later versions of OpenBSD and Debian) migrated to the [[X.Org Server]].<ref name=wheeler>{{cite web |url=http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/gpl-compatible.html#xfree86 |title=The Cautionary Tale of XFree86 |access-date=2007-07-12 |last=Wheeler |first=David A. |date=2007-07-06 |archive-date=2004-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040901083643/http://www.dwheeler.com/essays/gpl-compatible.html#xfree86 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

The last code commit was in 2009; the project was confirmed dormant in 2011<ref name="tsi">Marc Aurele La France: [http://marc.info/?l=xfree86-forum&m=132291851222618&w=2 Is there ever going to be a new version of xfree86] XFree86-Forum, December 3rd. 2011</ref> and the website was last updated in 2014, commemorating the then-22nd anniversary.