GPL, COPYING file

[Pimm Hogeling]

Hi Paolo,

On GNU.org you can find a document about using GNU licenses for your
own software: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-howto.html

As you can read you're basically right, but that same page also states:
For programs that are more than one file, it is better to replace
"this program" with the name of the program, and begin the statement
with a line saying "This file is part of NAME".
An example is also present on that page.

To mention one more thing you said you want to release it under the
GPLv3, but the header you're using states "either version 2 of the
License, or (at your option) any later version.", which means you'd be
releasing it under the GPLv2 (note that the GPLv2 with the "or any
later version" line is sometimes called GPLv2+).

Regards,

Pimm Hogeling

2008/7/2 Paolo Ciarrocchi <paolo.ciarrocchi at gmail.com>:
>
> Hi all,
> a friend of mine wants to release a CMS under GPLv3.
> We disagree on how the licence should be inserted in the package.
>
> I think, please correct me if I'm wrong, that the only think he should do
> is to put the licence in a COPYING file (which will be part of the package) and
> optionally add to the header of every single file the following lines:
> --
> Copyright (C) yyyy  nome dell'autore
>
> This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or
> modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License
> as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2
> of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
>
> This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
> but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
> MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
> GNU General Public License for more details.
>
> You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
> along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
> Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA.
> --
>
> I think this is optional even because a lot of gpl software (Linuk
> kernel, GIT, mercurial etc etc)
> just add the COPYNG file.
>
> My friend believe that he should add the whole licence to every single
> file of the package.
>
> Can you please clarify?
>
> Thanks a lot in advance.
>
> Ciao,
> --
> Paolo
> http://paolo.ciarrocchi.googlepages.com/