2 Aug
2009
2 Aug
'09
6:18 a.m.
PS:
Even if you changed headers
original done by other authors for more than 50% of the code, it must be
noticeable who was the original author and that you changed it. There's
a stipulation: "a) You must cause the modified files to carry prominent
notices stating that you changed the files and the date of any change."
I guess this should protect the reliability of the software. If thousand
people change xyz.h, we need to know if we got the original xyz.h, with
the original functionality or if we got a derivate, that might has lost
it's compatibility. Copyrights done under the GPL should protect the
software and users, less the authors, that's why it's called a copyleft.
You only can make the software name, logos etc. copyright, not the code,
if you are using GPL code.
"[snip] My work on free software is motivated by an idealistic goal:
spreading freedom and cooperation. I want to encourage free software to
spread <http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/why-copyleft.html>, replacing
proprietary software that forbids cooperation, and thus make our society
better.
That's the basic reason why the GNU General Public License is written
the way it is—as a copyleft. All code added to a GPL-covered program
must be free software, even if it is put in a separate file. I make my
code available for use in free software, and not for use in proprietary
software, in order to encourage other people who write software to make
it free as well. I figure that since proprietary software developers use
copyright to stop us from sharing, we cooperators can use copyright to
give other cooperators an advantage of their own: they can use our code.
[snip]" (Richard Stallman)