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I'd like to make an SDK library to connect to an specific API and I found a library under the BSD 3-Clause "New" or "Revised" License and copyrighted by the author that I could "copy" and just change the names of the classes, URLs, and parameters.
I couldn't be sure reading about thsi license if I could copy this library and change it as I'd like refering to the original author and library without any concerns.
Yes, you may if you give credit but don't claim that they endorse your changes.
However I'm somewhat baffled... a license can IMHO not be more concise and clear and it's not even bad legalese... It's short enough to quote it in its entirety here (emphasis mine):
Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met:
Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
Neither the name of the copyright holder nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission.
As to changes: "Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice". So yes, you may amend copyright notices in the sources with your own, but you MUST keep the original one
@author and @copyright tags in docblocks as it is or I can change them and mention the author and the original package in README file. Would you know if I could?
Feb 19 '21 at 2:02