New role for the FSFE in the Bacula project
In April 2015, we announced a change in the relationship between Kern Sibbald and the FSFE owing to the cancellation of the Fiduciary License Agreement (FLA) between Kern and the FSFE which previously made the FSFE a fiduciary for copyrights in the Bacula software.
Since then the FSFE has been working with Kern to find a way that assures that the original premise of the FLA, to ensure that contributors can rely that their contributions will remain as Free Software, continue to hold true even when the FSFE no longer holds the copyright to Bacula itself.
In an agreement between the FSFE, Kern and Bacula Systems, all three parties have jointly agreed that any agreements that a Bacula contributor signs with Kern regarding the copyright of their contribution must include similar provisions as those of the FLA. It also reiterates the continued committment of Kern to keep all future versions of the Bacula.org community version under a Free Software license, something that the FSFE in its new role will continue to support and provide guidance for.
Over the coming months, the FSFE will wind down its previous role as a fiduciary for Bacula, effectively transfering its copyright held to Kern. However, the FSFE will continue to act as a fiduciary for the copyright of those contributors who so wish and will continue to work with Kern and contributors to ensure that the premises of our agreements, keeping Bacula as Free Software, are retained.