Legal Notices
Nmap Copyright and Licensing
The Nmap Security Scanner is (C) 1996-2005 Insecure.Com LLC. Nmap is also a registered trademark of Insecure.Com LLC. This program is free software; you may redistribute and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; Version 2. This guarantees your right to use, modify, and redistribute this software under certain conditions. If you wish to embed Nmap technology into proprietary software, we may be willing to sell alternative licenses (contact <
[email protected]>). Many security scanner vendors already license Nmap technology such as host discovery, port scanning, OS detection, and service/version detection.
Note that the GPL places important restrictions on “derived works”, yet it does not provide a detailed definition of that term. To avoid misunderstandings, we consider an application to constitute a “derivative work” for the purpose of this license if it does any of the following:
Integrates source code from Nmap
Reads or includes Nmap copyrighted data files, such as nmap-os-fingerprints or nmap-service-probes.
Executes Nmap and parses the results (as opposed to typical shell or execution-menu apps, which simply display raw Nmap output and so are not derivative works.)
Integrates/includes/aggregates Nmap into a proprietary executable installer, such as those produced by InstallShield.
Links to a library or executes a program that does any of the above.
The term “Nmap” should be taken to also include any portions or derived works of Nmap. This list is not exclusive, but is just meant to clarify our interpretation of derived works with some common examples. These restrictions only apply when you actually redistribute Nmap. For example, nothing stops you from writing and selling a proprietary front-end to Nmap. Just distribute it by itself, and point people to
http://insecure.org/nmap/ to download Nmap.
We don't consider these to be added restrictions on top of the GPL, but just a clarification of how we interpret “derived works” as it applies to our GPL-licensed Nmap product. This is similar to the way Linus Torvalds has announced his interpretation of how “derived works” applies to Linux kernel modules. Our interpretation refers only to Nmap - we don't speak for any other GPL products.
If you have any questions about the GPL licensing restrictions on using Nmap in non-GPL works, we would be happy to help. As mentioned above, we also offer alternative license to integrate Nmap into proprietary applications and appliances. These contracts have been sold to many security vendors, and generally include a perpetual license as well as providing for priority support and updates as well as helping to fund the continued development of Nmap technology. Please email <
[email protected]> for further information.
As a special exception to the GPL terms, Insecure.Com LLC grants permission to link the code of this program with any version of the OpenSSL library which is distributed under a license identical to that listed in the included Copying.OpenSSL file, and distribute linked combinations including the two. You must obey the GNU GPL in all respects for all of the code used other than OpenSSL. If you modify this file, you may extend this exception to your version of the file, but you are not obligated to do so.
If you received these files with a written license agreement or contract stating terms other than the terms above, then that alternative license agreement takes precedence over these comments.
