copyright - Debian Perl Group common copyright statements
This is a small guide detailing some common copyright statements, which are
used for many reasons. In particular, there are packages that are designed to
generate files for inclusion in modules, such as Module::Install,
AutoXS::Header and Devel::PPPort. These files have copyrights that may
differ from the rest of the distribution, so it is important to cite them
accordingly.
Contributions are welcomed, especially statements that are valid for earlier versions of the modules listed here.
The following statement is valid for the current version of Module::Install:
Files: inc/Module/* Copyright: 2002-2009, Adam Kennedy <adamk@cpan.org> 2002-2009, Audrey Tang <autrijus@autrijus.org> 2002-2009, Brian Ingerson <ingy@cpan.org> License-Alias: Perl License: Artistic | GPL-1+
The following statement is valid for the current version of AutoXS::Header:
Files: AutoXS.h Copyright: 2008-2009, Steffen Mueller <smueller@cpan.org> License-Alias: Perl License: Artistic | GPL-1+
The following statement is valid for the current version of Devel::PPPort:
Files: ppport.h Copyright: 2004-2009, Marcus Holland-Moritz <mhx-cpan@gmx.net> 2001, Paul Marquess <pmqs@cpan.org> (Version 2.x) 1999, Kenneth Albanowski <kjahds@kjahds.com> (Version 1.x) License-Alias: Perl License: Artistic | GPL-1+
This is some common license clauses that are not considered common enough to be included in `/usr/share/common-licenses/' (part of the base-files package; controlled by the Debian Policy Team). The guideline seems to be that there must be at least 250 packages using a license prior to inclusion.
This is the second version of the Artistic License. It is expected that this version will replace the current usage of the Artistic License (as is the recommendation of the Open Source Initiative), and it is indeed the license on all major Perl 6 implementations.
License: Artistic-2.0
Copyright (c) 2000-2006, The Perl Foundation.
.
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this
license document, but changing it is not allowed.
.
Preamble
.
This license establishes the terms under which a given free software
Package may be copied, modified, distributed, and/or redistributed.
The intent is that the Copyright Holder maintains some artistic
control over the development of that Package while still keeping the
Package available as open source and free software.
.
You are always permitted to make arrangements wholly outside of this
license directly with the Copyright Holder of a given Package. If the
terms of this license do not permit the full use that you propose to
make of the Package, you should contact the Copyright Holder and seek
a different licensing arrangement.
.
Definitions
.
"Copyright Holder" means the individual(s) or organization(s) named in
the copyright notice for the entire Package.
.
"Contributor" means any party that has contributed code or other
material to the Package, in accordance with the Copyright Holder's
procedures.
.
"You" and "your" means any person who would like to copy, distribute,
or modify the Package.
.
"Package" means the collection of files distributed by the Copyright
Holder, and derivatives of that collection and/or of those files. A
given Package may consist of either the Standard Version, or a
Modified Version.
.
"Distribute" means providing a copy of the Package or making it
accessible to anyone else, or in the case of a company or
organization, to others outside of your company or organization.
.
"Distributor Fee" means any fee that you charge for Distributing this
Package or providing support for this Package to another party. It
does not mean licensing fees.
.
"Standard Version" refers to the Package if it has not been modified,
or has been modified only in ways explicitly requested by the
Copyright Holder.
.
"Modified Version" means the Package, if it has been changed, and such
changes were not explicitly requested by the Copyright Holder.
.
"Original License" means this Artistic License as Distributed with the
Standard Version of the Package, in its current version or as it may
be modified by The Perl Foundation in the future.
.
"Source" form means the source code, documentation source, and
configuration files for the Package.
.
"Compiled" form means the compiled bytecode, object code, binary, or
any other form resulting from mechanical transformation or translation
of the Source form.
.
Permission for Use and Modification Without Distribution
.
(1) You are permitted to use the Standard Version and create and use
Modified Versions for any purpose without restriction, provided that
you do not Distribute the Modified Version.
.
Permissions for Redistribution of the Standard Version
.
(2) You may Distribute verbatim copies of the Source form of the
Standard Version of this Package in any medium without restriction,
either gratis or for a Distributor Fee, provided that you duplicate
all of the original copyright notices and associated disclaimers. At
your discretion, such verbatim copies may or may not include a
Compiled form of the Package.
.
(3) You may apply any bug fixes, portability changes, and other
modifications made available from the Copyright Holder. The resulting
Package will still be considered the Standard Version, and as such
will be subject to the Original License.
.
Distribution of Modified Versions of the Package as Source
.
(4) You may Distribute your Modified Version as Source (either gratis
or for a Distributor Fee, and with or without a Compiled form of the
Modified Version) provided that you clearly document how it differs
from the Standard Version, including, but not limited to, documenting
any non-standard features, executables, or modules, and provided that
you do at least ONE of the following:
.
(a) make the Modified Version available to the Copyright Holder of the
Standard Version, under the Original License, so that the Copyright
Holder may include your modifications in the Standard Version. (b)
ensure that installation of your Modified Version does not prevent the
user installing or running the Standard Version. In addition, the
Modified Version must bear a name that is different from the name of
the Standard Version. (c) allow anyone who receives a copy of the
Modified Version to make the Source form of the Modified Version
available to others under (i) the Original License or (ii) a license
that permits the licensee to freely copy, modify and redistribute the
Modified Version using the same licensing terms that apply to the copy
that the licensee received, and requires that the Source form of the
Modified Version, and of any works derived from it, be made freely
available in that license fees are prohibited but Distributor Fees are
allowed.
.
Distribution of Compiled Forms of the Standard Version or Modified
Versions without the Source
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(5) You may Distribute Compiled forms of the Standard Version without
the Source, provided that you include complete instructions on how to
get the Source of the Standard Version. Such instructions must be
valid at the time of your distribution. If these instructions, at any
time while you are carrying out such distribution, become invalid, you
must provide new instructions on demand or cease further distribution.
If you provide valid instructions or cease distribution within thirty
days after you become aware that the instructions are invalid, then
you do not forfeit any of your rights under this license.
.
(6) You may Distribute a Modified Version in Compiled form without the
Source, provided that you comply with Section 4 with respect to the
Source of the Modified Version.
.
Aggregating or Linking the Package
.
(7) You may aggregate the Package (either the Standard Version or
Modified Version) with other packages and Distribute the resulting
aggregation provided that you do not charge a licensing fee for the
Package. Distributor Fees are permitted, and licensing fees for other
components in the aggregation are permitted. The terms of this license
apply to the use and Distribution of the Standard or Modified Versions
as included in the aggregation.
.
(8) You are permitted to link Modified and Standard Versions with
other works, to embed the Package in a larger work of your own, or to
build stand-alone binary or bytecode versions of applications that
include the Package, and Distribute the result without restriction,
provided the result does not expose a direct interface to the Package.
.
Items That are Not Considered Part of a Modified Version
.
(9) Works (including, but not limited to, modules and scripts) that
merely extend or make use of the Package, do not, by themselves, cause
the Package to be a Modified Version. In addition, such works are not
considered parts of the Package itself, and are not subject to the
terms of this license.
.
General Provisions
.
(10) Any use, modification, and distribution of the Standard or
Modified Versions is governed by this Artistic License. By using,
modifying or distributing the Package, you accept this license. Do not
use, modify, or distribute the Package, if you do not accept this
license.
.
(11) If your Modified Version has been derived from a Modified Version
made by someone other than you, you are nevertheless required to
ensure that your Modified Version complies with the requirements of
this license.
.
(12) This license does not grant you the right to use any trademark,
service mark, tradename, or logo of the Copyright Holder.
.
(13) This license includes the non-exclusive, worldwide,
free-of-charge patent license to make, have made, use, offer to sell,
sell, import and otherwise transfer the Package with respect to any
patent claims licensable by the Copyright Holder that are necessarily
infringed by the Package. If you institute patent litigation
(including a cross-claim or counterclaim) against any party alleging
that the Package constitutes direct or contributory patent
infringement, then this Artistic License to you shall terminate on the
date that such litigation is filed.
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(14) Disclaimer of Warranty: THE PACKAGE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT
HOLDER AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS' AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED
WARRANTIES. THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE, OR NON-INFRINGEMENT ARE DISCLAIMED TO THE EXTENT
PERMITTED BY YOUR LOCAL LAW. UNLESS REQUIRED BY LAW, NO COPYRIGHT
HOLDER OR CONTRIBUTOR WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE
OF THE PACKAGE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.
Creative Commons Zero is a permissive license akin to Public Domain, but with fewer issues when countries do not permit authors to release their work into the public domain. It is designed to be a license for literary and artistic works, rather than software; as such, it's not often used for software.
License: CC0
The laws of most jurisdictions throughout the world
automatically confer exclusive Copyright and Related Rights
(defined below) upon the creator and subsequent owner(s)
(each and all, an "owner") of an original work of authorship
and/or a database (each, a "Work").
.
Certain owners wish to permanently relinquish those rights
to a Work for the purpose of contributing to a commons of
creative, cultural and scientific works ("Commons") that the
public can reliably and without fear of later claims of
infringement build upon, modify, incorporate in other works,
reuse and redistribute as freely as possible in any form
whatsoever and for any purposes, including without
limitation commercial purposes. These owners may contribute
to the Commons to promote the ideal of a free culture and
the further production of creative, cultural and scientific
works, or to gain reputation or greater distribution for
their Work in part through the use and efforts of others.
.
For these and/or other purposes and motivations, and without
any expectation of additional consideration or compensation,
the person associating CC0 with a Work (the "Affirmer"), to
the extent that he or she is an owner of Copyright and
Related Rights in the Work, voluntarily elects to apply CC0
to the Work and publicly distribute the Work under its
terms, with knowledge of his or her Copyright and Related
Rights in the Work and the meaning and intended legal effect
of CC0 on those rights.
.
1. Copyright and Related Rights. A Work made available under
CC0 may be protected by copyright and related or neighboring
rights ("Copyright and Related Rights"). Copyright and
Related Rights include, but are not limited to, the
following:
.
1. the right to reproduce, adapt, distribute, perform,
display, communicate, and translate a Work;
.
2. moral rights retained by the original author(s)
and/or performer(s);
.
3. publicity and privacy rights pertaining to a
person's image or likeness depicted in a Work;
.
4. rights protecting against unfair competition in
regards to a Work, subject to the limitations in
paragraph 4(a), below;
.
5. rights protecting the extraction, dissemination, use
and reuse of data in a Work;
.
6. database rights (such as those arising under
Directive 96/9/EC of the European Parliament and of the
Council of 11 March 1996 on the legal protection of
databases, and under any national implementation
thereof, including any amended or successor version of
such directive); and
.
7. other similar, equivalent or corresponding rights
throughout the world based on applicable law or treaty,
and any national implementations thereof.
.
2. Waiver. To the greatest extent permitted by, but not in
contravention of, applicable law, Affirmer hereby overtly,
fully, permanently, irrevocably and unconditionally waives,
abandons, and surrenders all of Affirmer's Copyright and
Related Rights and associated claims and causes of action,
whether now known or unknown (including existing as well as
future claims and causes of action), in the Work
.
(i) in all territories worldwide,
.
(ii) for the maximum duration provided by applicable
law or treaty (including future time extensions),
.
(iii) in any current or future medium and for any
number of copies, and
.
(iv) for any purpose whatsoever, including without
limitation commercial, advertising or promotional
purposes (the "Waiver"). Affirmer makes the Waiver for
the benefit of each member of the public at large and
to the detriment of Affirmer's heirs and successors,
fully intending that such Waiver shall not be subject
to revocation, rescission, cancellation, termination,
or any other legal or equitable action to disrupt the
quiet enjoyment of the Work by the public as
contemplated by Affirmer's express Statement of
Purpose.
.
3. Public License Fallback. Should any part of the
Waiver for any reason be judged legally invalid or
ineffective under applicable law, then the Waiver shall
be preserved to the maximum extent permitted taking
into account Affirmer's express Statement of Purpose.
In addition, to the extent the Waiver is so judged
Affirmer hereby grants to each affected person a
royalty-free, non transferable, non sublicensable, non
exclusive, irrevocable and unconditional license to
exercise Affirmer's Copyright and Related Rights in the
Work
.
(i) in all territories worldwide,
.
(ii) for the maximum duration provided by applicable
law or treaty (including future time extensions),
.
(iii) in any current or future medium and for any
number of copies, and
.
(iv) for any purpose whatsoever, including without
limitation commercial, advertising or promotional
purposes (the "License"). The License shall be deemed
effective as of the date CC0 was applied by Affirmer to
the Work. Should any part of the License for any reason
be judged legally invalid or ineffective under
applicable law, such partial invalidity or
ineffectiveness shall not invalidate the remainder of
the License, and in such case Affirmer hereby affirms
that he or she will not
.
(i) exercise any of his or her remaining Copyright
and Related Rights in the Work or
.
(ii) assert any associated claims and causes of
action with respect to the Work, in either case
contrary to Affirmer's express Statement of
Purpose.
.
4. Limitations and Disclaimers.
.
1. No trademark or patent rights held by Affirmer are
waived, abandoned, surrendered, licensed or otherwise
affected by this document.
.
2. Affirmer offers the Work as-is and makes no
representations or warranties of any kind concerning the
Work, express, implied, statutory or otherwise, including
without limitation warranties of title, merchantability,
fitness for a particular purpose, non infringement, or the
absence of latent or other defects, accuracy, or the present
or absence of errors, whether or not discoverable, all to
the greatest extent permissible under applicable law.
.
3. Affirmer disclaims responsibility for clearing rights of
other persons that may apply to the Work or any use thereof,
including without limitation any person's Copyright and
Related Rights in the Work. Further, Affirmer disclaims
responsibility for obtaining any necessary consents,
permissions or other rights required for any use of the
Work.
.
4. Affirmer understands and acknowledges that Creative
Commons is not a party to this document and has no duty or
obligation with respect to this CC0 or use of the Work.
MISSING INFORMATION
Sometimes an upstream author will be missing some or all of the information
required. It is important to have all of the copyright information; for new
packages, the ftp-master team will reject packages that do not have proper
copyright and licensing information. It's important to do this in order to
ensure we comply with Debian Free Software Guidelines. Here is a sample
message you can use.
CPAN Request Tracker
Hi:While packaging your module, for Debian, I noticed that it doesn't seem
to mention [copyright information, or license information, or both].
In Debian we need copyright/license information for all of the packages
we upload. Could you give us (replying to this bug report is fine): years of
copyright, copyright holders' names, copyright holders' e-mail addresses.
Unfortunately without this information we cannot upload it.
This is more than just a Debian issue. I'm not a lawyer, but it's my
understanding that both copyright and licensing information is vital
for the continued success of open source software. Copyright is what
allows you to assert a license, and a license is what ensures open
source remains open source, and that users can make use of your software.
A great article discussing some of this is "What is Copyleft?" by
Richard Stallman: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/
Thanks for releasing your work to the CPAN. I apologize in advance for
the noise, as I understand that the last thing most authors want to
deal with is legal administrivia like this. I do hope, however, that
you could (in your continued generosity) help us with this request.
Please also consider adding these statements to your code/package
README, since we must distribute some evidence of copyright information
if it is not in the source package itself.
Cheers,
[Your Name]
On behalf of the Debian Perl Team
E-mail
Hi:While packaging your module, [Foo::Bar], for Debian, I noticed that
your module doesn't seem to mention [copyright information, or license
information, or both].
In Debian we need copyright/license information for all of the packages
we upload. Could you give us (replying to this email is fine): years of
copyright, copyright holders' names, copyright holders' e-mail addresses.
Unfortunately without this information we cannot upload it.
This is more than just a Debian issue. I'm not a lawyer, but it's my
understanding that both copyright and licensing information is vital
for the continued success of open source software. Copyright is what
allows you to assert a license, and a license is what ensures open
source remains open source, and that users can make use of your software.
A great article discussing some of this is "What is Copyleft?" by
Richard Stallman: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/
Thanks for releasing your work to the CPAN. I apologize in advance for
the noise, as I understand that the last thing most authors want to
deal with is legal administrivia like this. I do hope, however, that
you could (in your continued generosity) help us with this request.
Please also consider adding these statements to your code/package
README, since we must distribute some evidence of copyright information
if it is not in the source package itself.
Cheers,
[Your Name]
On behalf of the Debian Perl Team
CONTRIBUTORS
The following people have contributed to the maintainership of this file:
Copyright (c) 2009 by the individual contributors noted above.
This document is free software; you may redistribute it and/or modify it under the same terms as Perl itself.
Perl is distributed under your choice of the GNU General Public License or the Artistic License.
On Debian GNU/Linux systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public License can be found in `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL' and the Artistic License in `/usr/share/common-licenses/Artistic'.
Any decisions that need to be made regarding the licensing, copyright and distribution of this file shall be determined by majority vote between the current members of the Debian Perl Team, with one vote for all members, and an additional vote granted to Debian Developers.