Editing TrueCrypt (section)

== License and source model ==
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TrueCrypt was released as [[source-available]], under the "TrueCrypt License," which is unique to the TrueCrypt software.<ref name=license>[http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license TrueCrypt License]. Accessed on: 21 May 2012  {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120530131309/http://www.truecrypt.org/legal/license |date=30 May 2012 }}</ref><ref name=license2>[https://www.ohloh.net/licenses/TrueCrypt_Collective_License TrueCrypt Collective License]. Accessed on: 4 June 2014</ref>  As of version 7.1a (the last full version of the software, released Feb 2012), the TrueCrypt License was version 3.0. It is not part of the panoply of widely used [[Comparison of free and open-source software licenses|open source licenses]]. The [[Free Software Foundation]] (FSF) states that it is not a [[free software license]].<ref>[https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#Truecrypt-3.0 Various Licenses and Comments about Them] Free Software Foundation</ref>

Discussion of the licensing terms on the [[Open Source Initiative]] (OSI)'s license-discuss mailing list in October 2013 suggests that the TrueCrypt License has made progress towards compliance with the Open Source Definition but would not yet pass if proposed for certification as Open Source software.<ref name="Phipps">{{Citation |last=Phipps |first=Simon |title=TrueCrypt or false? Would-be open source project must clean up its act |date=15 November 2013 |url=http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source-software/truecrypt-or-false-would-be-open-source-project-must-clean-its-act-230862 |publisher=[[InfoWorld]] |access-date=20 May 2014 |author-link=Simon Phipps (programmer)}}</ref><ref name=mailinglist>{{cite web|last=Fontana |first=Richard |title=TrueCrypt license (not OSI-approved; seeking history, context). |date=October 2013 |url=http://projects.opensource.org/pipermail/license-discuss/2013-October/001313.html |access-date=26 October 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029185711/http://projects.opensource.org/pipermail/license-discuss/2013-October/001313.html |archive-date=29 October 2013 |df=dmy }}</ref> According to current OSI president [[Simon Phipps (programmer)|Simon Phipps]]:

<blockquote>...it is not at all appropriate for [TrueCrypt] to describe itself as "open source". This use of the term "open source" to describe something under a license that's not only unapproved by OSI but known to be subject to issues is unacceptable. ... As OSI director and open source expert Karl Fogel said, "The ideal solution is not to have them remove the words 'open source' from their self-description, but rather for their software to be under an OSI-approved open source license."<ref name=Phipps/></blockquote>

As a result of its questionable status with regard to copyright restrictions and other potential legal issues,<ref>[http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/distributions/2008-October/000276.html Tom Callaway of Red Hat about TrueCrypt licensing concern] Accessed on 10 July 2009</ref> major [[Linux distribution]]s do not consider the TrueCrypt License [[Free software|free]]: TrueCrypt is not included with Debian,<ref>[http://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=364034 Debian Bug report logs - #364034]. Accessed on: 12 January 2009.</ref> Ubuntu,<ref>[https://bugs.edge.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bug/109701 Bug #109701 in Ubuntu]. Accessed on: 20 April 2009</ref> Fedora,<ref>[http://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/distributions/2008-October/000276.html TrueCrypt licensing concern] Accessed on: 20 April 2009</ref> or openSUSE.<ref>[http://lists.opensuse.org/opensuse-buildservice/2008-10/msg00055.html non-OSI compliant packages in the openSUSE Build Service]. Accessed on: 20 April 2009</ref>

===End of life and license version 3.1===
28 May 2014 announcement of discontinuation of TrueCrypt also came with a new version 7.2 of the software. Among the many changes to the source code from the previous release were changes to the TrueCrypt License — including removal of specific language that required attribution of TrueCrypt as well as a link to the official website to be included on any derivative products — forming a license version 3.1.<ref name="truecrypt-archive">{{cite web|url=https://github.com/DrWhax/truecrypt-archive/blob/master/doc/License-v3.1.txt|title=truecrypt-archive/License-v3.1.txt at master · DrWhax/truecrypt-archive|website=GitHub|date=28 Mar 2014|access-date=23 Jul 2018}}</ref>

Cryptographer Matthew Green, who had help raise funds for TrueCrypt's audit noted a connection between TrueCrypt's refusal to change the license and their departure-time warning. "They set the whole thing on fire, and now maybe nobody is going to trust it because they'll think there's some big evil vulnerability in the code."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/truecrypt-goes-way-lavabit-developers-shut-it-down-without-warning-1450467 |title=TrueCrypt Goes the Way of Lavabit as Developers Shut it Down Without Warning |date=29 May 2014 |publisher=Ibtimes.co.uk |access-date=1 June 2014}}</ref>

On 16 June 2014, the only alleged TrueCrypt developer still answering email replied to a message by Matthew Green asking for permission to use the TrueCrypt trademark for a fork released under a standard open source license. Permission was denied, which led to the two known forks being named [[VeraCrypt]] and CipherShed as well as a re-implementation named tc-play rather than TrueCrypt.<ref>{{cite web |last=Green |first=Matthew D. |author-link=Matthew D. Green |title=Here is the note... |date=16 June 2014 |url=https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/478721271316758528 |format=Twitter |access-date=22 June 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140817063344/https://twitter.com/matthew_d_green/status/478721271316758528 |archive-date=17 August 2014 |url-status=dead |df=dmy }}</ref><ref>{{Citation | last =Goodin | first =Dan | title =Following TrueCrypt's bombshell advisory, developer says fork is "impossible" | work=[[Ars Technica]] |publisher=[[Condé Nast]] | date =19 June 2014 | url =https://arstechnica.com/security/2014/06/following-truecrypts-bombshell-advisory-developer-says-fork-is-impossible/ | access-date = 22 June 2014}}</ref>