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RFC: PHP license update
RFC: PHP License Update - Date: 2025-07-10 - Author: Ben Ramsey, ramsey@php.net - Proposed Version: PHP 9.0 - Status: Under Discussion - First Published at: http://wiki.php.net/rfc/php_license_update Introduction PHP has a long history of confusion, concerns, and disagreements regarding its custom open source license, and the Zend Engine License, which covers the sources in the Zend/ directory, adds to this confusion and additionally complicates matters, since it is not an Open Source Initiative Approved License. This RFC proposes a pragmatic simplification to the PHP license that alleviates this confusion, preserves the copyrights owned by all PHP contributors, and grants users the same rights as the original licenses.
Andreas Heigl asked on the php-internals mailing list, “Does anyone here remember why the changes to the license where [ sic] done in the first place?” 26) In response, Johannes Schlüter referenced the Debian debate. The license requires us to make this statement: “This product includes PHP software, freely available from http://www.php.net/software/ ”, the veracity of which cannot be verified by us, nor can we be held responsible for the maintenance of the link. I think this was the sort of scenario that the FSF was concerned about, as causing the naming restriction to be unreasonable, when judging the license to be GPL incompatible, though I can't immediately find support for this.” 78)
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