Palimpsest Meta-Public License (PMPL)
Version 1.0, February 2026

Copyright (c) 2026 Jonathan D.A. Jewell <jonathan.jewell@open.ac.uk>

SPDX-License-Identifier: PMPL-1.0-or-later

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PREAMBLE

The Palimpsest Meta-Public License (PMPL) is designed for software that evolves
through continuous reinterpretation and adaptation. Like a palimpsest—a
manuscript that has been written upon multiple times, with earlier text still
visible beneath—software under this license embraces its evolutionary nature.

This license recognizes that all meaningful software is built upon prior work,
and that the boundaries between original work, derived work, and inspiration
are fluid and contextual rather than absolute.

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TERMS AND CONDITIONS

1. DEFINITIONS

"The Work" refers to any copyrightable work licensed under this License.

"You" or "Your" means an individual or legal entity exercising rights under
this License.

"Modification" means any addition to, deletion from, or change to the substance
or structure of the Work.

"Derivative Work" means any work that is based on (or derived from) the Work
and for which the editorial revisions, annotations, elaborations, or other
modifications represent an original work of authorship.

"Distribute" means to make available to the public the original and copies of
the Work or Derivative Work, as appropriate, whether by sale or other transfer
of ownership, or by rental, lease or lending.

2. GRANT OF COPYRIGHT LICENSE

Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, each Contributor hereby
grants to You a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free,
irrevocable copyright license to reproduce, prepare Derivative Works of,
publicly display, publicly perform, sublicense, and Distribute the Work and
such Derivative Works.

3. DISTRIBUTION AND MODIFICATION

You may reproduce and Distribute copies of the Work or Derivative Works thereof
in any medium, with or without Modifications, provided that You meet the
following conditions:

a) You must give any other recipients of the Work or Derivative Works a copy
   of this License;

b) You must cause any modified files to carry prominent notices stating that
   You changed the files;

c) You must retain, in all Derivative Works that You Distribute, all copyright,
   patent, trademark, and attribution notices from the Work, excluding those
   notices that do not pertain to any part of the Derivative Works;

d) If the Work includes a "NOTICE" text file as part of its distribution, then
   any Derivative Works that You Distribute must include a readable copy of the
   attribution notices contained within such NOTICE file;

e) All Derivative Works must be licensed under this License or a later version
   of this License.

4. PATENT LICENSE

Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, each Contributor hereby
grants to You a perpetual, worldwide, non-exclusive, no-charge, royalty-free,
irrevocable (except as stated in this section) patent license to make, have
made, use, offer to sell, sell, import, and otherwise transfer the Work.

5. TRADEMARKS

This License does not grant permission to use the trade names, trademarks,
service marks, or product names of the Licensor, except as required for
reasonable and customary use in describing the origin of the Work.

6. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY

THE WORK IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR
COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER
IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN
CONNECTION WITH THE WORK OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE WORK.

7. LIMITATION OF LIABILITY

In no event and under no legal theory, whether in tort (including negligence),
contract, or otherwise, unless required by applicable law (such as deliberate
and grossly negligent acts) or agreed to in writing, shall any Contributor be
liable to You for damages, including any direct, indirect, special, incidental,
or consequential damages of any character arising as a result of this License
or out of the use or inability to use the Work.

8. ACCEPTING WARRANTY OR ADDITIONAL LIABILITY

While redistributing the Work or Derivative Works thereof, You may choose to
offer, and charge a fee for, acceptance of support, warranty, indemnity, or
other liability obligations and/or rights consistent with this License. However,
in accepting such obligations, You may act only on Your own behalf and on Your
sole responsibility, not on behalf of any other Contributor.

9. META-LICENSING

This license may be used to license other licenses, creating a meta-licensing
structure. Works licensed under PMPL may include components licensed under
other compatible open source licenses (MIT, Apache 2.0, BSD, MPL, etc.) without
requiring relicensing of those components.

10. VERSION COMPATIBILITY

This License is versioned. You may distribute the Work under the terms of the
version of the License under which You received it, or any later version
published by the PMPL Stewards.

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END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

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HOW TO APPLY THIS LICENSE

To apply this License to your work, attach the following boilerplate notice,
with the fields enclosed by brackets "[]" replaced with your own identifying
information:

   SPDX-License-Identifier: PMPL-1.0-or-later

   Copyright (c) [year] [name] <[email]>

   Licensed under the Palimpsest Meta-Public License v1.0 or later.
   You may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
   You may obtain a copy of the License at

       https://licenses.hyperpolymath.org/PMPL-1.0

   Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
   distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
   WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
   See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
   limitations under the License.

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APPENDIX: PHILOSOPHY

The Palimpsest Meta-Public License embraces several key philosophical principles:

1. EVOLUTIONARY ADAPTATION: Software evolves through reinterpretation and
   adaptation, not just modification. Like a palimpsest, the history of changes
   is part of the artifact itself.

2. CONTEXTUAL BOUNDARIES: The distinction between original work and derivative
   work is contextual rather than absolute. All software is built upon prior
   work, and innovation comes from creative recombination.

3. INTELLECTUAL HUMILITY: Acknowledge that your work builds on the work of
   countless others, visible and invisible, acknowledged and unacknowledged.

4. FORWARD COMPATIBILITY: Encourage evolution by making it easy to build upon
   this work while maintaining attribution and the freedom to continue evolving.

5. META-LICENSING: Recognize that licensing itself is a form of work that
   should be open to adaptation and evolution.

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