From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.io!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: github.com@gnu.support Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.tangents Subject: Re: [syl20bnr/spacemacs] Proposal to improve GPL compliance (#14444) Date: Wed, 3 Mar 2021 22:50:33 +0300 Message-ID: References: Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Injection-Info: ciao.gmane.io; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:116.202.254.214"; logging-data="13944"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@ciao.gmane.io" User-Agent: Mutt/2.0 (3d08634) (2020-11-07) Cc: emacs-tangents@gnu.org To: "syl20bnr/spacemacs" Original-X-From: emacs-tangents-bounces+get-emacs-tangents=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Wed Mar 03 20:54:11 2021 Return-path: Envelope-to: get-emacs-tangents@m.gmane-mx.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by ciao.gmane.io with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.92) (envelope-from ) id 1lHXZT-0003UP-01 for get-emacs-tangents@m.gmane-mx.org; Wed, 03 Mar 2021 20:54:11 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:33444 helo=lists1p.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1lHXZS-0001gi-0X for get-emacs-tangents@m.gmane-mx.org; Wed, 03 Mar 2021 14:54:10 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:470:142:3::10]:49666) by lists.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1lHXZG-0001f2-C1 for emacs-tangents@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Mar 2021 14:53:58 -0500 Original-Received: from stw1.rcdrun.com ([217.170.207.13]:45329) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.2:ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384:256) (Exim 4.90_1) (envelope-from ) id 1lHXZD-0002Xd-0B for emacs-tangents@gnu.org; Wed, 03 Mar 2021 14:53:57 -0500 Original-Received: from localhost ([::ffff:41.210.141.203]) (AUTH: PLAIN securesender, TLS: TLS1.2,256bits,ECDHE_RSA_AES_256_GCM_SHA384) by stw1.rcdrun.com with ESMTPSA id 000000000001E083.00000000603FE94F.00002544; Wed, 03 Mar 2021 12:53:51 -0700 Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: Received-SPF: pass client-ip=217.170.207.13; envelope-from=github.com@gnu.support; helo=stw1.rcdrun.com X-Spam_score_int: -18 X-Spam_score: -1.9 X-Spam_bar: - X-Spam_report: (-1.9 / 5.0 requ) BAYES_00=-1.9, SPF_HELO_PASS=-0.001, SPF_PASS=-0.001 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no X-Spam_action: no action X-BeenThere: emacs-tangents@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.23 Precedence: list List-Id: Emacs news and miscellaneous discussions outside the scope of other Emacs mailing lists List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-tangents-bounces+get-emacs-tangents=m.gmane-mx.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "Emacs-tangents" Xref: news.gmane.io gmane.emacs.tangents:615 Archived-At: * Lucius Hu [2021-03-03 20:07]: > @thanhvg > Code snippets you found online are usually `unlicensed` and you can > adapt those into your codebase, with the following exceptions: > - If the (apparent) author claims that it's licensed, then you should check the license compatibility. > - If the hosting website claims it owns the copyright or the > - contents on its website is under a specific license, then you also > - need to check the compatibility. That is absolutely incorrect. Any works are automatically protected unless author has some different licensing terms. When some work is there without license that means it is protected by copyright laws and thus proprietary. It becomes free software only if explicitly stated so. Please see the question answered related to US copyrights: https://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/faq-general.html Where it says: "Do I have to register with your office to be protected? No. In general, registration is voluntary. Copyright exists from the moment the work is created. You will have to register, however, if you wish to bring a lawsuit for infringement of a U.S. work. See Circular 1, Copyright Basics, section “Copyright Registration.” " Thus when work is created, be it piece of text, software, paintings, image, the copyright exists from the moment work is created. Without explicitly licensing it as free software it is not free and thus cannot just be copied and pasted as somebody wish and want. In the end that spoils the GNU GPL licensed free software with proprietary software for which one have never got permission. > In general, if it's unlicensed you just need to include the link to > the original page/author. That is incorrect. See above. While in US it is recommended to register copyrights, it exists just as in all other countries automatically from the moment of creation of the work.