A. HISTORY OF THE SOFTWARE
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Python was created in the early 1990s by Guido van Rossum at Stichting
Mathematisch Centrum (CWI, see http://www.cwi.nl) in the Netherlands
as a successor of a language called ABC. Guido remains Python's
principal author, although it includes many contributions from others.
In 1995, Guido continued his work on Python at the Corporation for
National Research Initiatives (CNRI, see http://www.cnri.reston.va.us)
in Reston, Virginia where he released several versions of the
software.
In May 2000, Guido and the Python core development team moved to
BeOpen.com to form the BeOpen PythonLabs team. In October of the same
year, the PythonLabs team moved to Digital Creations, which became
Zope Corporation. In 2001, the Python Software Foundation (PSF, see
https://www.python.org/psf/) was formed, a non-profit organization
created specifically to own Python-related Intellectual Property.
Zope Corporation was a sponsoring member of the PSF.
All Python releases are Open Source (see http://www.opensource.org for
the Open Source Definition). Historically, most, but not all, Python
releases have also been GPL-compatible; the table below summarizes
the various releases.
Release Derived Year Owner GPL-
from compatible? (1)
0.9.0 thru 1.2 1991-1995 CWI yes
1.3 thru 1.5.2 1.2 1995-1999 CNRI yes
1.6 1.5.2 2000 CNRI no
2.0 1.6 2000 BeOpen.com no
1.6.1 1.6 2001 CNRI yes (2)
2.1 2.0+1.6.1 2001 PSF no
2.0.1 2.0+1.6.1 2001 PSF yes
2.1.1 2.1+2.0.1 2001 PSF yes
2.1.2 2.1.1 2002 PSF yes
2.1.3 2.1.2 2002 PSF yes
2.2 and above 2.1.1 2001-now PSF yes
Footnotes:
(1) GPL-compatible doesn't mean that we're distributing Python under
the GPL. All Python licenses, unlike the GPL, let you distribute
a modified version without making your changes open source. The
GPL-compatible licenses make it possible to combine Python with
other software that is released under the GPL; the others don't.
(2) According to Richard Stallman, 1.6.1 is not GPL-compatible,
because its license has a choice of law clause. According to
CNRI, however, Stallman's lawyer has told CNRI's lawyer that 1.6.1
is "not incompatible" with the GPL.
Thanks to the many outside volunteers who have worked under Guido's
direction to make these releases possible.
B. TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR ACCESSING OR OTHERWISE USING PYTHON
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