The developers of the PHP programming language sent notification to the OSI (Open Source Initiative) about the voluntary withdrawal of the license PHP License 3.01. It is stated that after several years of work, the PHP toolkit code has been completely transferred to the BSD-3 license and there is no longer any code left in the project under the old PHP License 3.01. The text of the new version of the license PHP License has been replaced with a copy of the BSD-3 license.
Previously, the PHP interpreter and the Zend Engine were distributed under different licenses PHP License and Zend Engine License. The transition to the BSD-3 General License will simplify licensing terms, ensure compatibility with the GPL, and resolve long-standing problems while preserving all user and developer rights. Previously used licenses were recognized by the Free Software Foundation as incompatible with the GPL due to a clause that did not allow the use of the word PHP when promoting derivative products without obtaining written permission.
The PHP 1.x and 2.x branches were originally distributed under the GPLv2 license, but the PHP 3 branch was translated to use two licenses – PHP License and GPL. In PHP 4, the license was changed again – the main code began to be distributed only under the PHP License, and the Zend Engine was placed in a separate directory under a separate license Zend Engine License. The Zend Engine License, like the PHP License, contains restrictions regarding the use of the word Zend in derivative products, but additionally requires mention of the use of the engine in advertising materials.
After the transition to the BSD-3 license, the copyrights of all participants in the development were preserved, and the rights of users remained unchanged. The new license does not impose additional restrictions and does not infringe on existing rights to use, modify, and distribute the product. The PHP and Zend licenses are based on the text of the 4-clause BSD license, and the change to the BSD-3 license only resulted in the removal of clauses defining the requirements for use of the “PHP” brand, as well as the termination of the clause requiring reference to the use of the free PHP project in derivative works.
The license change did not require separate consent from each developer, since the text of the PHP and Zend licenses define the permissions that allow PHP Group make changes to the license and release new versions of the license. To switch to a BSD-3 license, it was enough to have the approval of members of the PHP Group and receive written confirmation from the lawyers of Perforce Software, which owns Zend Technologies. The process of switching to a new license is framed as updating the code to