[Savannah-users] question concerning custom licenses

[Bryon Jacob]

I have a need to create a "fork" of a (Free Software) project that  
I've been using as a dependency for my other (Free Software) project,  
because the project has been abandoned by its previous owner, and I  
need to fix some bugs that I've discovered in the dependency.  I am  
looking for a place to host this forked project, and I'm wondering if  
Savannah is a viable alternative for me.

My issue is this -- the original library that I am forking does not  
use any of the "standard" Free/OS licenses (GPL, ASL, etc.), it uses  
it's own very simple license:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
XXXXXXXX Copying Conditions

Copyright (c) XXXX-XXXX XXXXXXXX
All rights reserved.

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without  
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are  
met:

    * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright  
notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
    * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above  
copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer  
in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the  
distribution.
    * Neither the name of the XXXXXXXX nor the names of its  
contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from  
this software without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS  
"AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT  
LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR  
A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR  
CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL,  
EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO,  
PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR  
PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF  
LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING  
NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS  
SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I am not the copyright holder of this work, so (as far as I  
understand) I do not have the right to redistribute my modified copy  
of the work under any other license but this one.  Most project  
hosting sites seem to force (or at least strongly prefer) that I  
choose from one of the "standard" licenses, but I don't know whether I  
am free to do so.  My questions for this group, if there's anyone who  
can answer them, is:

1)  Does the above license allow me to distribute a "derivative work"  
under some other license (GPL, LGPL, ASL) as long as I keep this  
statement intact, too?  Is there any way short of me hiring a lawyer  
to determine whether this license is compatible with any of the  
standard license or not?
2)  If I am NOT free to redistribute my modified copy under some other  
compatible license, would Savannah be willing to host a project  
licensed under the terms above (assuming I met the other criteria, of  
course)?  Savannah is one of the few Free project hosting sites I've  
found that does not seem to have a hard requirement that a license  
come from a fixed list of blessed licenses...

I know that I can redistribute my changed code under the copyright  
holder's existing license - but that "custom" license is keeping me  
off of most of the free project hosting sites, and I would like to  
avoid the expense and hassle of creating a one-off Subversion repo and  
site to host this relatively simple project.

any advice would be greatly appreciated - thanks!

 - Bryon