3 ms·
This article reminded me of something I've always wondered about software licenses: Suppose I write a book of "software licenses" with a short introduction, co
by erichocean 14y ago
This article reminded me of something I've always wondered about software licenses:
Suppose I write a book of "software licenses" with a short introduction, copyright page, etc. The rest of the book's content are the actual software licenses (GPL, BSD, MIT, Apache, the CC variants, etc.), one license per chapter.
At the end of the book, I include a final chapter with the source code for a small software program, without any license or copyright declaration. I then distribute the book on the Internet, for free.
What license is the source code at the end of the book under, if any, for the people the book is distributed to?
In particular, would any of the GPL licenses necessarily apply, due to their "virality"? And if not, why not?
Would all licenses apply equally?
- josephlord 14y agoI would expect that there would be no license granted to a the source code in a separate chapter and therefore copyright law would apply. The GPL "virality" only applies to code that has been published under the GPL so if you had written the code it wouldn't apply. Now another form of infectiousness would apply to the code, that of copyright itself. Anyone who copied the code would be infringing copyright as would anyone who copied them (although they might have a claim against anyone that told them they could copy it). Almost all proprietary licenses are at least as infectious as the GPL.
- Kliment 14y agoBy default, I believe none would apply, it would be copyright to you, unrelated to the license text published in there. The licensing text itself is public domain for all the licenses you listed, so its licensing does not affect the other text. The code in the final chapter is under whatever license you distribute the book under.