Licensing

From FreeMind
Revision as of 17:13, 22 March 2008 by Ewl (talk | contribs) (→‎Links: add compatibility lists)
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FreeMind is licensed under GNU GPL V2+.

Licensing of components

Component License Link Note
SimplyHTML GPL Version of license?
Batik Apache Problem?
NanoXML zlib/libpng [1]
JiBX BSD, Apache [2] Problem?
JavaHelp GNU GPL V2 [3]

Projects bundling Java

Project License Link Note
StopMojo GPL plus a special statement giving blanket permission to link with non-free software. [4]
TIFFANY'S GPL; not given at the web site; only at the SourceForge project page [5]

Discussion threads

Thread Channel Started on Note
Licensing problems Complaints from users 15.1.2008 Contains open issues.
Licensing problems freemind-developer 15.1.2008 Possible open issues.

Offending files

At least at some point, some single files had a license incompatible with GNU GPL V2+. These were:

File Note
freemind/main/CommonsCodecBase64.java Apache 2.0 license, incompatible with GPLv2+
accessories/marktree.js Mozilla Public License 1.1, incompatible with GPLv2+, see note 1
accessories/mm2oowriter.xsl fixed by Chris (he's the author, he can this)
accessories/tohtml.xsl Mozilla Public License 1.1, incompatible with GPLv2+, see note 1
accessories/toxhtml.xsl. Mozilla Public License 1.1, incompatible with GPLv2+, see note 1
Note 1
the files implicated seem to come from mmTree where the original Author keeps very similar versions under MIT license, which would be compatible with GPLv2+. Eric L. 10:08, 22 Mar 2008 (PDT) ⇒ Asking the author Miika Nurminen for his OK to place the files in our CVS under MIT license as well (else we'll have to derive a new version from his files).

Copyright notice in code

A source file may be viewed as a sum b + d1 + d2 + ... + dk, where b is the basis, di are deltas (or patches), and the plus operator is the operator of applying a patch. The basis and each delta have their own copyright holder and the year of copyright.

If there is only one author and one year, then the copyright notice is simple.

If there is only one author and more years, then the copyright notice may look like

Copyright © 2003-2005 Big Author

which is to be understood as

Some parts of the sum are copyrighted in 2003, some perhaps in 2004, and some certainly in 2005.

If there are more authors, then the copyright notice consists of more lines, like

Copyright © 2003-2005 Big Author,
Copyright © 2005 Captain,

Not all changes are eligible for copyright. If a change is small, then it does not make sense to add a line to the copyright notice for it.

Copyright notice is not required for copyright to hold. It makes claiming your right at court easier.

The correctness of these instructions is not granted. They are subject to improvement as we see fit.

--Danielpolansky 11:29, 3 Jun 2005 (PDT)

Where to ask

Place Note
gnu.org
groklaw.net GPL Resources

See also

Links