[issue153] How to apply GNU/GPL to an abandoned project?

[Shane M. Coughlan]

Hi there Andrés

> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: How to apply GNU/GPL to an abandoned project?
> Date: Mon, 16 Apr 2007 22:18:23 -0500
> From: Andrés Felipe Vargas Valencia <info at misucursalvirtual.com>
> To: <legal at lists.gpl-violations.org>
<snip>
> Now, of course I want still releasing the exp like GNU/GPL, but how i
> should
> write the copyright notes if i want to add my work to that project?
> should I mark any line of code that i change? or can I change the copyright
> notes?

You cannot remove the original author's copyright notices.  He is still
the copyright holder of the code he wrote.

You should add your copyright notice on files you contribute to like this:

Copyright (c) 2004 Original Author
Copyright (c) 2007 You

Here is an example from the Nautilus source code (ephy-spinner.c):

/*
 * Copyright © 2000 Eazel, Inc.
 * Copyright © 2002-2004 Marco Pesenti Gritti
 * Copyright © 2004, 2006 Christian Persch
 *
 * Nautilus 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.
 *
 * Nautilus 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
 *
 * Author: Andy Hertzfeld <andy at eazel.com>
 *
 * Ephy port by Marco Pesenti Gritti <marco at it.gnome.org>
 *
 * $Id$
 */

Reference:
http://svn.gnome.org/viewcvs/nautilus/branches/gnome-2-18/src/ephy-spinner.c?view=markup

Regards

Shane

-- 
Shane Coughlan
FTF Coordinator
Free Software Foundation Europe
Office: +41435000366 ext 408 / Mobile: +41792633406
coughlan at fsfeurope.org
Support Free Software > http://fsfe.org

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: signature.asc
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 307 bytes
Desc: OpenPGP digital signature
Url : http://lists.gpl-violations.org/pipermail/legal/attachments/20070420/69bb3600/signature.pgp