Licensing Question
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| techiem2 Sep 24, 2008 3:00 PM EDT |
Ok, so a friend is developing a game engine, etc. etc.
And he has a question about some licensing stuff (he's too lazy to create an account for himself. lol).
Here's what he said (hopefully you can understand it.):
Quoting: i have a proggy i want to license under gpl3 :) http://paragon-engine.svn.sourceforge.net/viewvc/paragon-eng... see the license at the top it seems pretty gpl friendly but i don't think i'm actually allowed to include that file because it's not gpl licensed can i include it? what is that, like a bsd license or something? Any insight? Does this make sense? |
| Sander_Marechal Sep 24, 2008 3:08 PM EDT |
Ugh... Give the man a spell checker for his birthday, will you? That kind of writing is terribly unprofessional and IMHO inconsiderate. As to his question: Yes, he can use that file in his GPLv3 app. It's pretty much a BSD/MIT license. Such questions aren't too hard to answer for yourself. Just read the license and ask yourself: Can I redistribute this while fulfilling both this license *and* the GPLv3 simultaniously. In this case you can. There is nothing required by the GPLv3 that would violate the license of the file. Also, there is nothing in the file's license that would violate the GPLv3 (such as GPL's "no addionional restrictions" clause). So, you can use the file in your GPLv3 project. Note that this does not mean that you can strip the license from the file and replace it with GPLv3. Legally you can, but it's not kind (it's similar to what the Linux wifi developers did with the BSD wifi drivers). Just leave the original license in place at the top of the file. |
| number6x Sep 24, 2008 4:17 PM EDT |
I'll add that I believe the original copyright notice must be retained. From the linked to license in the original question:Quoting:" * (1) Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, * this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. * * (2) 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. *" As Sander said, it is good form to preserve the entire license notice. And it is even better if your friend would add a contribution to the readme or the 'about' display in their program. Only a dumpster diving, code stealing, college dropout cad would suggest otherwise. |
| Scott_Ruecker Sep 24, 2008 4:19 PM EDT |
Quoting:Ugh... Give the man a spell checker for his birthday, will you? That kind of writing is terribly unprofessional and IMHO inconsiderate. Sander, I love you, and I couldn't agree more.. LOL |
| techiem2 Sep 24, 2008 5:05 PM EDT |
lol.
To be fair that was a transcript of an IM conversation. :) (Yeah, I probably should have rewritten it.) Thanks for the input as usual. :) |
| Sander_Marechal Sep 24, 2008 6:04 PM EDT |
Even in IM I try to write complete and grammatically correct sentences. IMHO that kind of juvenile "IM talk" is just sloppy. When I read such things I always have to think "If his writing is that sloppy, what does that say of the code he writes?" |
| Scott_Ruecker Sep 24, 2008 9:47 PM EDT |
I would agree with you Sander but I have some programmers, and most of them are not into "organization" as most of us are accustomed to knowing it.. ;-) |
| tracyanne Sep 24, 2008 11:38 PM EDT |
Sander's correct, that sort of IM talk is sloppy. I agree, his code is probably also sloppy. Too lazy to join this Forum, that's another clue. |
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