BSD3

BSD3 refers to a permissive free software license, the Berkeley Software Distribution license with a three-clause restriction. It originated from the University of California, Berkeley, and is a variant of the original BSD license. The key feature of the BSD3 license is that it allows redistribution of the software in both source and binary forms, with or without modification, provided that certain conditions are met.

These conditions typically include the retention of the copyright notice, the list of conditions, and the disclaimer of warranty in any redistribution. The "three-clause" aspect specifically refers to the prohibition of using the name of the copyright holder or contributors to endorse or promote derivative products without specific prior written permission. This clause is intended to prevent endorsement without consent.

The BSD3 license is considered very liberal, offering minimal restrictions on how the software can be used, modified, and redistributed. This makes it popular for projects that aim for widespread adoption and commercial use, as it allows derivative works to be licensed under different terms, including proprietary ones. It is often contrasted with copyleft licenses like the GPL, which require derivative works to be distributed under the same or a compatible license. Many well-known open-source projects, including parts of macOS and iOS, as well as various networking tools, have been released under the BSD3 license.