Netscape Communications Corp. is today officially releasing the source code for Netscape Communicator 5.0 on its non-official Web site, Mozilla.org.
Netscape has set up a special download area for the source, including a multitude of mirror sites that will also have the software source code.
Developers will have to read and agree to the licensing agreement, of which there are two versions:
Modified original: Developers looking to modify the original source must sign a Netscape Public License, or NPL. This NPL grants Netscape the rights to use the code that results from the modification of the original source code.
Add-on: Developers looking to simply add to the source code sign a Mozilla Public License, or MPL. The MPL grants Netscape less rights, giving developers the rights to any plug-ins they create using the source. If, however, developers write an API to access any plug-ins they develop, the API must be released back to the source code “pool.”
Netscape will be hosting a party
tonight in San Francisco, CA to celebrate the release of the source code.
Scheduled to run from 8pm to 2am, it is open to anyone interested in the release.
If you’re not planning on attending, the Party Details are worth reading, if simply to find out more about the possibility of seeing Marc Andreessen dancing in a cage.
For more information about the release, or the Release Party, visit Netscape’s Mozilla.org Web site.
