From 200a24242e8e4da8cb0800605f35505fe9da4410 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Rob Brackett Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2018 14:33:48 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 1/4] Document our licensing policy License: MIT Signed-off-by: Rob Brackett --- docs/licensing-policy.md | 47 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 47 insertions(+) create mode 100644 docs/licensing-policy.md diff --git a/docs/licensing-policy.md b/docs/licensing-policy.md new file mode 100644 index 00000000..67792115 --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/licensing-policy.md @@ -0,0 +1,47 @@ +# IPFS Licensing Policy + +In order to ensure an open source project is actually open and re-usable in a legal sense, it’s critical that licensing information is clear. Repositories in the `ipfs`, `libp2p`, and `ipld` organizations should all follow this policy for licensing their contents. + +Unless there is a particular reason to use a different licensing structure, please use the following for new projects: + +1. Copyright should always be assigned to **Protocol Labs, Inc,** regardless of the type of license. (In an ideal future, we can assign copyright to a foundation, but Protocol Labs is the best usable legal entity we have now.) + +2. All software code should be licensed under the MIT license. Canonical license text for the MIT license can be found in this repository’s [`LICENSE` file](../LICENSE) or at the [Open Source Initiative website](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT). + +2. All documentation and non-code resources (e.g. logos and imagery) should be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. An [easy-to-read, linkable description](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) and canonical license text in [HTML](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode) and [plain text](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode.txt) can be found at the Creative Commons website. + + If a repository is a software project with some built-in docs or resources (e.g. `go-ipfs`), it can all be licensed under the MIT license. The CC BY-SA license is meant for projects that are not overwhelmingly code, such as websites, guidance, discussion repos, and so on. + + +## Attaching a License + +When licensing a project, be sure to: + +1. Name the the license and provide a link to it from the project README under the heading “license.” Example: + + ```md + ## License + + Copyright (c) Protocol Labs, Inc. under the ****. See [LICENSE file](./LICENSE) for details. + ``` + + Or for multiple licenses: + + ```md + ## License + + All software code is copyright (c) Protocol Labs, Inc. under the **MIT license**. + + Other written documentation and content (c) Protocol Labs, Inc under the **Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License**. + + See [LICENSE file](./LICENSE) for details. + ``` + +2. For software that will be redistributed, the full text of the license(s) **must** be in a file named `LICENSE` in the repository root. Other projects **should** do this, too, but their readmes can alternatively link to a separate license document, like this: [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). + + +## Contributor Licensing (DCO) + +We manage contributor licensing via a *Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO).* All commits with new code from any contributor **must** include a DCO signoff trailer. See the [contributing guide part 2](../CONTRIBUTING-2.md#a-license-and-a-signed-off-by-trailers-are-required) for more details. Commits with extremely trivial or changes or that do not change content (e.g. merge commits) are excepted. + +If you’re setting up a new repository, **please make sure to set up [GitCop](https://gitcop.com) to enforce the DCO policy** and make sure the README includes a link to our contribution guidelines. From ee7031e5d315790af22179e0248d6943743147a7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Rob Brackett Date: Wed, 2 May 2018 19:44:52 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 2/4] Change CC-BY-SA license to CC-BY for docs License: MIT Signed-off-by: Rob Brackett --- docs/licensing-policy.md | 8 ++++---- 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 4 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/licensing-policy.md b/docs/licensing-policy.md index 67792115..10b61d44 100644 --- a/docs/licensing-policy.md +++ b/docs/licensing-policy.md @@ -8,9 +8,9 @@ Unless there is a particular reason to use a different licensing structure, plea 2. All software code should be licensed under the MIT license. Canonical license text for the MIT license can be found in this repository’s [`LICENSE` file](../LICENSE) or at the [Open Source Initiative website](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT). -2. All documentation and non-code resources (e.g. logos and imagery) should be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) license. An [easy-to-read, linkable description](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) and canonical license text in [HTML](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode) and [plain text](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode.txt) can be found at the Creative Commons website. +2. All documentation and non-code resources (e.g. logos and imagery) should be licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. An [easy-to-read, linkable description](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) and canonical license text in [HTML](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode) and [plain text](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.txt) can be found at the Creative Commons website. - If a repository is a software project with some built-in docs or resources (e.g. `go-ipfs`), it can all be licensed under the MIT license. The CC BY-SA license is meant for projects that are not overwhelmingly code, such as websites, guidance, discussion repos, and so on. + If a repository is a software project with some built-in docs or resources (e.g. `go-ipfs`), it can all be licensed under the MIT license. The CC BY license is meant for projects that are not overwhelmingly code, such as websites, guidance, discussion repos, and so on. ## Attaching a License @@ -32,12 +32,12 @@ When licensing a project, be sure to: All software code is copyright (c) Protocol Labs, Inc. under the **MIT license**. - Other written documentation and content (c) Protocol Labs, Inc under the **Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License**. + Other written documentation and content (c) Protocol Labs, Inc under the **Creative Commons Attribution License**. See [LICENSE file](./LICENSE) for details. ``` -2. For software that will be redistributed, the full text of the license(s) **must** be in a file named `LICENSE` in the repository root. Other projects **should** do this, too, but their readmes can alternatively link to a separate license document, like this: [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). +2. For software that will be redistributed, the full text of the license(s) **must** be in a file named `LICENSE` in the repository root. Other projects **should** do this, too, but their readmes can alternatively link to a separate license document, like this: [Creative Commons Attribution](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). ## Contributor Licensing (DCO) From f913e084ac5e62d35d7922233ffdc4271abc7b6a Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Rob Brackett Date: Wed, 2 May 2018 20:00:10 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 3/4] Remove recommendation to set up GitCop It turns out folks are really unhappy with how it works, so we don't want to recommend using it on new repos. We don't yet have a good replacement to recommend, though. License: MIT Signed-off-by: Rob Brackett --- docs/licensing-policy.md | 2 +- 1 file changed, 1 insertion(+), 1 deletion(-) diff --git a/docs/licensing-policy.md b/docs/licensing-policy.md index 10b61d44..f2343e54 100644 --- a/docs/licensing-policy.md +++ b/docs/licensing-policy.md @@ -44,4 +44,4 @@ When licensing a project, be sure to: We manage contributor licensing via a *Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO).* All commits with new code from any contributor **must** include a DCO signoff trailer. See the [contributing guide part 2](../CONTRIBUTING-2.md#a-license-and-a-signed-off-by-trailers-are-required) for more details. Commits with extremely trivial or changes or that do not change content (e.g. merge commits) are excepted. -If you’re setting up a new repository, **please make sure to set up [GitCop](https://gitcop.com) to enforce the DCO policy** and make sure the README includes a link to our contribution guidelines. +If you’re setting up a new repository, make sure the README includes a link to our contribution guidelines so people can find information about the DCO signoff. From 68f2fc02c4384eeb765ebc7547ea07f3aa2268c1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Rob Brackett Date: Mon, 7 May 2018 09:27:14 -0700 Subject: [PATCH 4/4] Ensure "Inc." is always followed by a period License: MIT Signed-off-by: Rob Brackett --- docs/licensing-policy.md | 4 ++-- 1 file changed, 2 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-) diff --git a/docs/licensing-policy.md b/docs/licensing-policy.md index f2343e54..9106ab6c 100644 --- a/docs/licensing-policy.md +++ b/docs/licensing-policy.md @@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ In order to ensure an open source project is actually open and re-usable in a le Unless there is a particular reason to use a different licensing structure, please use the following for new projects: -1. Copyright should always be assigned to **Protocol Labs, Inc,** regardless of the type of license. (In an ideal future, we can assign copyright to a foundation, but Protocol Labs is the best usable legal entity we have now.) +1. Copyright should always be assigned to **Protocol Labs, Inc.,** regardless of the type of license. (In an ideal future, we can assign copyright to a foundation, but Protocol Labs is the best usable legal entity we have now.) 2. All software code should be licensed under the MIT license. Canonical license text for the MIT license can be found in this repository’s [`LICENSE` file](../LICENSE) or at the [Open Source Initiative website](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT). @@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ When licensing a project, be sure to: All software code is copyright (c) Protocol Labs, Inc. under the **MIT license**. - Other written documentation and content (c) Protocol Labs, Inc under the **Creative Commons Attribution License**. + Other written documentation and content (c) Protocol Labs, Inc. under the **Creative Commons Attribution License**. See [LICENSE file](./LICENSE) for details. ```