Please clarify under which GPL versions phpsysinfo is licensed (currently ambiguous)
xtaran opened this issue · comments
As mentioned in #120 I use some of the phpsysinfo graphics in another project.
But it is currently unclear if the project as a whole …
- is licensed under all versions of the GPL as the phrase "GNU General Public License" without version number or just "GPL" suggests (the phrase without version is e.g. also used in README.md), or
- if it is solely licensed under the GPL version 2.0 which all the license links in the source code could suggest as the version is part of the URL, or
- if it is licensed under GPL version 2.0 or any later version which the "How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs" section of the COPYING file suggests. (Most JavaScript code from plugins contains the phrase "any later version", but these seem to be primarily contributed by third parties.)
It would be nice if this could be unambiguously declared in at least README.md. Thanks!
PhpSysInfo is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2.
@namiltd: I interpret the missing "or any later version" in your comment as "only version 2".
You then should adapt the according paragraphs in COPYING and non-third-party plugins like e.g. here to reduce the confusion about the license.
I suggest to do a git grep "any later version", ignore all hits in code originating from third-parties and remove all occurrences from the remaining hits.
Additionally explicitly using e.g. the word "only" in the README.md would help, too, as the default licensing for GPL assumes that later versions are fine, too.
What if I decide to change license to "GPLv2 or any later version"?
Then you'd change the boilerplate in all files as well as README.md accordingly and re-add the phrase "or (at your option) any later version". I don't see a problem there. :-) (You might want to ask other contributors first before relicensing their contributions, but I assume that's not the issue here.)
I don't mind which license you choose. It's also no problem if single files (like e.g. 3rd-party plugins) are licensed under a different license or different GPL version(s). It should just be unambiguous under which license the project in general (i.e. for all files without explicit boilerplate or license declaration) is published as well as for every single file which has different license terms.
Contents has been standardized. Now PhpSysInfo is freely available as Open Source Software under the terms of the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2 or (at your option) any later version. This is clearly defined.