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www/licenses gpl-howto.html
|
From: |
Karl Berry |
|
Subject: |
www/licenses gpl-howto.html |
|
Date: |
Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:15:42 +0000 |
CVSROOT: /web/www
Module name: www
Changes by: Karl Berry <karl> 08/10/13 16:15:42
Modified files:
licenses : gpl-howto.html
Log message:
be explicit about writing out years in full, no
ranges or abbreviations (#379317).
CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/licenses/gpl-howto.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.25&r2=1.26
Patches:
Index: gpl-howto.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/licenses/gpl-howto.html,v
retrieving revision 1.25
retrieving revision 1.26
diff -u -b -r1.25 -r1.26
--- gpl-howto.html 14 Aug 2008 10:47:32 -0000 1.25
+++ gpl-howto.html 13 Oct 2008 16:15:37 -0000 1.26
@@ -5,33 +5,35 @@
<h2>How to use GNU licenses for your own software</h2>
-<p>
-This is a brief explanation of how to place a program under the GNU General
-Public License, Lesser General Public License, or Affero General Public
-License. If you are looking for more detailed information, consider
-perusing our list of <a href="/licenses/gpl-faq.html">frequently asked
-questions about our licenses</a>.</p>
+<p> This is a brief explanation of how to place a program under the GNU
+General Public License, Lesser General Public License, or Affero General
+Public License. If you are looking for more detailed information,
+consider perusing our list of <a
+href="/licenses/gpl-faq.html">frequently asked questions about our
+licenses</a>.</p>
<p>If you are considering using the GNU Lesser General Public License,
-please read the article “<a
-href="/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html">Why you shouldn't use the LGPL
-for your next library</a>” first. The article explains why it may
-be better to use the ordinary GPL instead, and how we would make the
-decision.</p>
+please read the article “<a href="/licenses/why-not-lgpl.html">Why
+you shouldn't use the LGPL for your next library</a>” first. The
+article explains why it may be better to use the ordinary GPL instead,
+and how we would make the decision.</p>
-<p>
-Whichever license you plan to use, the process involves adding two
+<p>Whichever license you plan to use, the process involves adding two
elements to each source file of your program: a copyright notice (such
as “Copyright 1999 Terry Jones”), and a statement of copying
permission, saying that the program is distributed under the terms of
the GNU General Public License (or the Lesser GPL).</p>
<p>The copyright notice should include the year in which you finished
-preparing the release (so if you finished it in 1998 but didn't post
-it until 1999, use 1998). You should add the proper year for each
-release: for example, “Copyright 1998, 1999 Terry Jones”
-if some versions were finished in 1998 and some were finished in 1999.
-If several people have helped write the code, use all their names.</p>
+preparing the release (so if you finished it in 1998 but didn't post it
+until 1999, use 1998). You should add the proper year for each release;
+for example, “Copyright 1998, 1999 Terry Jones” if some
+versions were finished in 1998 and some were finished in 1999. If
+several people helped write the code, use all their names.</p>
+
+<p>For software with several releases over multiple years, it is best to
+spell out each year, in full, without using ranges or abbreviations, as
+in the example above.</p>
<p>Always use the English word “Copyright”; by international
convention, this is used worldwide, even for material in other
@@ -40,12 +42,11 @@
There is no legal significance to using the three-character sequence
“(C)”, although it does no harm.</p>
-<p>
-You should also include a copy of the license itself somewhere in the
+<p>You should also include a copy of the license itself somewhere in the
distribution of your program. All programs, whether they are released
-under the GPL or LGPL, should include <a href="/licenses/gpl.txt">the text
-version of the GPL</a>. In GNU programs the license is usually in a file
-called COPYING.</p>
+under the GPL or LGPL, should include <a href="/licenses/gpl.txt">the
+text version of the GPL</a>. In GNU programs the license is usually in
+a file called COPYING.</p>
<p>If you are releasing your program under the LGPL, you should also
include <a href="/licenses/lgpl.txt">the text version of the LGPL</a>,
@@ -58,20 +59,17 @@
include <a href="/licenses/agpl.txt">the text version of the GNU
AGPL</a>.</p>
-<p>
-If you have copied code from other programs covered by the same license,
-copy their copyright notices too. Put all the copyright notices together,
-right near the top of each file.</p>
+<p>If you have copied code from other programs covered by the same
+license, copy their copyright notices too. Put all the copyright
+notices together, right near the top of each file.</p>
-<p>
-It is very important for practical reasons to include contact
+<p>It is very important for practical reasons to include contact
information for how to reach you, perhaps in the README file, but this
has nothing to do with the legal issues of applying the license.</p>
-<p>
-The copying permission statement should come right after the copyright
-notices. For a one-file program, the statement (for the GPL) should
-look like this:</p>
+<p>The copying permission statement should come right after the
+copyright notices. For a one-file program, the statement (for the GPL)
+should look like this:</p>
<pre>
This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
@@ -117,12 +115,10 @@
word “Affero” before “General” in <em>all
three</em> places.</p>
-<p>
-For interactive programs, it is usually a good idea to make the
-program print out a brief notice about copyright and copying
-permission when it starts up. See
-<a href="/licenses/gpl-3.0.html#howto">the end of the GNU
-GPL</a> for more information about this.</p>
+<p>For interactive programs, it is usually a good idea to make the
+program print out a brief notice about copyright and copying permission
+when it starts up. See <a href="/licenses/gpl-3.0.html#howto">the end
+of the GNU GPL</a> for more information about this.</p>
<p>If you are releasing your program under the GNU AGPL, and it can
interact with users over a network, the program should offer its source to
@@ -132,12 +128,12 @@
that you can choose a method that's suitable for your specific
program—see section 13 for details.</p>
-<p>
-There is no legal requirement to register your copyright with anyone; simply
-distributing the program makes it copyrighted. However, it is a very good
-idea to register the copyright with the US Registry of Copyrights, because
-that puts you in a stronger position against anyone who violates the license
-in the US. Most other countries have no system of copyright registration.</p>
+<p>There is no legal requirement to register your copyright with anyone;
+simply distributing the program makes it copyrighted. However, it is a
+very good idea to register the copyright with the US Registry of
+Copyrights, because that puts you in a stronger position against anyone
+who violates the license in the US. Most other countries have no system
+of copyright registration.</p>
<p>We would like to list all free software programs in the Free Software
Directory, including all programs licensed under the GPL (any version).
@@ -151,11 +147,11 @@
href="/help/evaluation.html">GNU software evaluation page</a> for more
information and a short questionnaire.</p>
-<p>But you can use any of our licenses even if your program is not a
-GNU package; they're available to everyone. If you'd like to
-advertise your use of a particular license, feel free to
-use <a href="/graphics/license-logos.html" title="GNU License
-Logos">one of our logos</a>.</p>
+<p>But you are welcome to use any of our licenses even if your program
+is not a GNU package; indeed, we hope you will. They're available to
+everyone. If you'd like to advertise your use of a particular license,
+feel free to use <a href="/graphics/license-logos.html" title="GNU
+License Logos">one of our logos</a>.</p>
<!-- If needed, change the copyright block at the bottom. In general, -->
<!-- all pages on the GNU web server should have the section about -->
@@ -199,7 +195,7 @@
<p>
Updated:
<!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2008/08/14 10:47:32 $
+$Date: 2008/10/13 16:15:37 $
<!-- timestamp end -->
</p>
</div>
- www/licenses gpl-howto.html,
Karl Berry <=