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OpenBSD Project

The OpenBSD Project develops the OpenBSD operating system and widely used components such as OpenSSH. Its code is released under permissive ISC or Berkeley-style licences that allow use for any purpose, including commercial use.

Licensing at a Glance

  • Open source

  1. OpenBSD aims to provide code that can be freely used, copied, modified and distributed by anyone for any purpose, in the spirit of the original Berkeley Software Distribution.[1]

  2. The Berkeley copyright used by OpenBSD code imposes no restrictions on private or commercial use beyond keeping copyright notices and crediting the originator.[2]

  3. For new code, ISC or Berkeley-style licences are preferred; the GPL is not acceptable when adding new code, and NDAs are never acceptable.[3]

  4. OpenSSH is developed by OpenBSD Project developers and made available under a BSD-style licence.[4]

Products

References

  1. OpenBSD: Copyright Policy · openbsd.org · retrieved 2026-09-27
  2. OpenBSD: Copyright Policy · openbsd.org · retrieved 2026-09-27
  3. OpenBSD: Project Goals · openbsd.org · retrieved 2026-09-27
  4. OpenSSH · openssh.com · retrieved 2026-09-27
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