"Providing customized source code control with CVS"
"Providing customized source code control with CVS"
All the software I have written and placed here is licensed under the Gnu General Public License, version 2 or any later version you desire. This grants you a good many legal rights, including the right to copy it, use it, modify it, and (with restrictions) redistribute it. (Software from other sources may be public domain or under other licenses. Check the copyright notice.)
The GPL is a license created by the Gnu Project and the Free Software Foundation for the distribution of Open Source software. It can be viewed at the FSF website, or here.
The license itself is the only legal document, but I will summarize my understanding of it. The following has no legal force.
You may use the software as you please, in modified or unmodified form, provided you keep the copyrights and license information intact. I do not provide a warranty of any sort, except by specific contract, so you should validate the software yourself to the extent that you feel the need.
You may further distribute the software at your option, but there are restrictions if you choose to do so.
Nothing in this license requires you to redistribute the software, and if you don't there are very few restrictions on what you can do with it.
The GPL has sometimes been called "viral" since any programs linked with GPL-covered software can only be distributed under the GPL. This is of concern only if you intend to sell your software, in which case you should avoid including code you do not have the rights to under any circumstances, and in this case code under the GPL is no different from Microsoft code under an NDA that does not permit your use.
All contents of these pages Copyright 2002 by David H. Thornley.