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I do this too and so why do I do it? In essence it's because there is a very large number of lazy programmers who live by cut and paste. We're not just talking

by buro9 12y ago

I do this too and so why do I do it? In essence it's because there is a very large number of lazy programmers who live by cut and paste. We're not just talking the "I've found a solution on Stack Overflow and will use that", but more "I've searched Github for keyword + language and this file does what I need". The files are copied into their projects in its entirety, sometimes whole libraries are, and those programmers never bother to check how a project is licensed. Once this process has been repeated a few times the code is firmly detached from the licence and any original license is ignored. If I use the suggestion you make, then by them copying files into their project they have changed the licence of a file (it now inherits whatever their project uses). Though I do like the idea of a stub instead of the full thing: # Licence: BSD (3-clause) https://github.com/owner/project/LICENCE.md That would be enough to describe the licence for the file in a way that survives cut and paste, whilst also providing a URL for the full licence details. In fact, I will now probably shift to that.

taspeotis 12y ago
> In essence it's because there is a very large number of lazy programmers who live by cut and paste. I've had programmers copy and paste GPL'd code into proprietary projects I'm responsible for. It's not laziness it's ignorance. "What's a GPL?"
- fit2rule 12y ago
  I've shipped hard product with GPL onboard and in use. Its great! I've also complied, 100%. Also great! Laziness, ignorance, irresponsibility. Or: usage.
  - taspeotis 12y ago
    > I've also complied, 100% The cards I'm dealt are "proprietary projects". I comply 100% too: we don't ship GPL'd code. We've gotten close, though (c/o what I mention above).
andreasvc 12y ago
Programmers who copy and paste can always copy the fragment they need, no need to pay attention to headers. Ultimately licensing relies on people operating in good faith. Even without explicit licensing, there is an implicit copyright on works such as source code, so taking code from random places without checking out the license is never warranted either way. > If I use the suggestion you make, then by them copying files into their project they have changed the licence of a file (it now inherits whatever their project uses). No, the only one who can actually change the license of a file is the rights holder, so the person who copied the code while ignoring the license misrepresents matters but does not change anything about how the work is licencsed.

by buro9 12y ago

taspeotis 12y ago

> In essence it's because there is a very large number of lazy programmers who live by cut and paste. I've had programmers copy and paste GPL'd code into proprietary projects I'm responsible for. It's not laziness it's ignorance. "What's a GPL?"

fit2rule 12y ago
I've shipped hard product with GPL onboard and in use. Its great! I've also complied, 100%. Also great! Laziness, ignorance, irresponsibility. Or: usage.
- taspeotis 12y ago
  > I've also complied, 100% The cards I'm dealt are "proprietary projects". I comply 100% too: we don't ship GPL'd code. We've gotten close, though (c/o what I mention above).

andreasvc 12y ago

Programmers who copy and paste can always copy the fragment they need, no need to pay attention to headers. Ultimately licensing relies on people operating in good faith. Even without explicit licensing, there is an implicit copyright on works such as source code, so taking code from random places without checking out the license is never warranted either way. > If I use the suggestion you make, then by them copying files into their project they have changed the licence of a file (it now inherits whatever their project uses). No, the only one who can actually change the license of a file is the rights holder, so the person who copied the code while ignoring the license misrepresents matters but does not change anything about how the work is licencsed.