XFree86 Licensing Information

The XFree86 Project is commited to providing freely redistributable binary and source releases. The main license we use is one based on the traditional MIT X11 / X Consortium license, which doesn't impose any conditions on modification or redistribution of source code or binaries other than requiring that copyright/license notices are left intact. These terms are consistent with the Open Source definition. Some portions of XFree86 may be based on similar licences, like, for example, the BSD-style license. However, some other Open Source compatible licenses are considered too restrictive for XFree86 use. They include the GNU Public License and the Perl Artistic License.

Part of the motivation for our licensing choice was to carry on the original MIT X11 tradition of allowing the code to be used as widely as possible, including in both free and commercial products.

Copyright/licensing notices for our current 3.3.3 release can be found in our online documentation.


Last Updated: 5 December 1998