Multics License

Also known as Multics, Multics License.

Commercial use: allowed
Share alike: not required
Attribution: required (keep the copyright and license notices)

Compare with… Add to the compatibility check Download JSON-LD Turtle RDF/XML Text

Write this as a license text (needs an account) DALICC reads the model above and writes what it permits, requires and prohibits in plain English. Without an account, the Text download above writes the model out from the vocabulary.

Canonical URI https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Multics

Permissions

Change license by library convention
Duties
- Use a compliant license by library convention
Charge distribution fee from the text
Commercial use from the text
Derivative works from the text
Derive from the text
Duties
- Add statement from the text
- Attribution from the text
- Notice from the text
Display from the text
Distribute from the text
Duties
- Add statement from the text
- Attribution from the text
- Notice from the text
Modified works from the text
Modify from the text
Duties
- Add statement from the text
- Attribution from the text
- Notice from the text
Present from the text
Reproduce from the text

Prohibitions

Promote from the text

License-wide duties

This license states no duties that apply to the work as a whole.

What applies by default

The statements above are the library's reading of this license: each is marked with the sentence it rests on, or as a library convention where the text is not explicit. The statements below are the ones the DALICC reasoner supplies for acts the license says nothing about, from the default rules of the dependency graph it reasons with. Each one names the legal source it rests on. None of it is in the record.

No default rule of that graph reaches this license: it speaks about every act the rules are about.

Clauses

Additional clauses

Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission.

Info

Target asset types: Software
Region / jurisdiction: Worldwide
Validity: Perpetual
Source: https://opensource.org/license/Multics
Legal code: https://opensource.org/license/Multics
This description is published under: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
SPDX identifier: Multics on the SPDX license list
DALICC identifier: Multics

This record is published under CC BY 4.0. Credit it as: DALICC License Library, DALICC - Verein zur Förderung der Rechtssicherheit in der Datenbewirtschaftung, https://dalicc.net, CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The license it describes belongs to its publisher.

Use this license

Everything below is generated from this record. Replace the example address with the address of your own work.

JSON sidecar

{
  "license-uri": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Multics",
  "license-title": "Multics License",
  "spdx-id": "Multics",
  "attribution": "Copyright (c) [year] [copyright holder]",
  "asset": null,
  "generated-by": "DALICC"
}

RDF, Turtle

@prefix cc: <http://creativecommons.org/ns#> .

<https://example.org/my-work>
    cc:license <https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Multics> .

RDF, JSON-LD

{
  "@context": {
    "cc": "http://creativecommons.org/ns#"
  },
  "@id": "https://example.org/my-work",
  "cc:license": {
    "@id": "https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Multics"
  }
}

HTML attribution

<p>This work is licensed under <a href="https://dalicc.net/licenselibrary/Multics" rel="license">Multics License</a>.</p>

This license asks for attribution, so the credit line is part of it.

Badge

Markdown

[![License: Multics License](https://dalicc.net/license-library/Multics/badge.svg)](https://dalicc.net/license-library/Multics)

HTML

<a href="https://dalicc.net/license-library/Multics"><img src="https://dalicc.net/license-library/Multics/badge.svg" alt="License: Multics License"></a>

Review

Written from the license text by: Giray Havur
Written on: 2026-09-15
Second review: not yet done
Record changed since this review: yes (version 2, 2026-09-24)
Findings: 11 recorded, 5 applied to the record, 0 proposed

Models the Multics License, an MIT-style permissive grant with one extra condition: the historical background of the software must travel with every copy. The record follows MIT and adds dalicc:addStatement for that condition. The licence carries no warranty disclaimer at all.

11 findings

info Rubric 1 spdx:licenseId none

File name, license id, SPDX id and IRI agree. dct:publisher is left out: the text names donors and copyright holders but no steward of the licence.
info Rubric 2 odrl:target none

dcmitype:Software only, following MIT. The text covers 'these programs and their documentation', which is the same wording MIT uses, and the MIT record carries no creative-work type.
major Rubric 3 odrl:permission applied

The grant reads: 'Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted'. The record permits reproduce, distribute, modify, derive, display, present, commercial use, derivative works, modified works and the distribution fee. No sublicensing is granted, so no odrl:grantUse, which is where the record differs from MIT.
major Rubric 4 odrl:prohibition applied

dalicc:promote for 'that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission'.
major Rubric 5 odrl:duty applied

cc:Attribution, cc:Notice and dalicc:addStatement hang off distribute, modify and derive: the proviso requires 'that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation'. dalicc:addStatement carries the historical background, which is a prescribed statement rather than a licence notice.
major Rubric 6 dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer applied

The licence has no warranty clause and no liability clause, so neither dalicc:WarrantyDisclaimer nor dalicc:LiabilityLimitation is written. This is unusual for the library, where 329 of 344 records carry a disclaimer, and it is faithful: there is nothing to quote. The grant proviso is quoted in dalicc:additionalClauses instead.
info Rubric 7 cc:jurisdiction none

No legal system and no term named: dalicc:worldwide, dalicc:perpetual.
gap Rubric 8 record none

No vocabulary gap. The licence is silent about patents and about termination.
info Rubric 9 record none

The consistency check of app.services.composer, run with the 39 axioms of licensedata/dependencygraph/dg_default.ttl, returned no conflicts.
info Rubric 10 record none

Nearest siblings are MIT and IscLicense. Multics differs from MIT by the historical-background statement, by the express no-advertising bar and by the absence of both a sublicensing grant and a warranty disclaimer.
major Rubric 3 odrl:permission applied

Library convention 15: a licence that asks for no reciprocity and no source code asks only that the notice travels with the copy, which is a duty on the acts it governs and not a bar on putting the copy under other terms. dalicc:ChangeLicense is therefore a permission here, and the prohibition the earlier reading wrote is removed. The text reads: "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission." The permission carries the dalicc:compliantLicense duty, as Apache-2.0 does, because the notice has to survive the relicensing.

Report an issue The review record as JSON The review checks the model against the license text. It is not legal advice.

History

This license model has 2 versions. Version 2 is the one served today; every earlier version keeps its own address, so a conclusion drawn from one of them can still be checked against it.

Version 2 current2026-09-24 Giray Havur

The changes since version 1 recorded which sentence of the text each statement rests on and named the license the record itself is published under.

View version 2 JSON-LD Turtle RDF/XML
6 changes
- changed permission dalicc:ChangeLicense with duties [dalicc:compliantLicense]
  
  was permission dalicc:ChangeLicense with duties [dalicc:compliantLicense]
  
  Manual edit The statement is marked as a library convention, family rule 15: Permissive records permit relicensing: the text does not state it in as many words. Its duty dalicc:compliantLicense is marked as a library convention, family rule 15: Permissive records permit relicensing.
- changed permission odrl:derive with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:addStatement]
  
  was permission odrl:derive with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:addStatement]
  
  Manual edit Its duty cc:Attribution quotes "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission." Its duty cc:Notice quotes "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission." Its duty dalicc:addStatement quotes "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission."
- changed permission odrl:distribute with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:addStatement]
  
  was permission odrl:distribute with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:addStatement]
  
  Manual edit Its duty cc:Attribution quotes "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission." Its duty cc:Notice quotes "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission." Its duty dalicc:addStatement quotes "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission."
- changed permission odrl:modify with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:addStatement]
  
  was permission odrl:modify with duties [cc:Attribution, cc:Notice, dalicc:addStatement]
  
  Manual edit Its duty cc:Attribution quotes "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission." Its duty cc:Notice quotes "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission." Its duty dalicc:addStatement quotes "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission."
- changed prohibition dalicc:promote
  
  was prohibition dalicc:promote
  
  Manual edit The statement now quotes the sentence of the licence text it rests on: "Permission to use, copy, modify, and distribute these programs and their documentation for any purpose and without fee is hereby granted,provided that the below copyright notice and historical background appear in all copies and that both the copyright notice and historical background and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the names of MIT, HIS, BULL or BULL HN not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the programs without specific prior written permission."
- added dct:license <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/>
  
  Manual edit Every record is published under CC BY 4.0. cc:license names the record DALICC keeps of that licence; dct:license now names it by the address Creative Commons publishes it at, so that a consumer matching the canonical IRI finds it.
Version 1

Created from the license text on 2026-09-15 (Reciprocal and source-available).

View version 1 JSON-LD Turtle RDF/XML

Every change names the reason behind it: a finding of the content review, one of its library-wide decisions, the metadata that review wrote onto every record, or a hand edit. None of it is legal advice.

Nothing on this page is legal advice. What a license means is decided by its text; ask a legal advisor before you rely on it.