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I'm aware MIT license is permissive, I would still like to ask/verify how to proceed with forking code from .NET runtime libraries.

Reason to fork: in my specific case, code I'm interested in is internal (not part of public API). If I want to avoid reflection, I see no other option than a) propose API change, b) fork, modify & ship under different name but same license. I'm pretty sure changing public API won't happen (soon/ever), so b it is.

.NET uses MIT license (repo), however additionally every file has following header:

// Licensed to the .NET Foundation under one or more agreements.
// The .NET Foundation licenses this file to you under the MIT license.

What I'm bit unsure here is what to do with this header:

  • keep it in all files (including those containing my modification, possibly attributing my change to .NET Foundation)
  • keep it only in files I haven't modified (= removing header only from files I modified)
  • remove from all files no matter what I modified

I plan to distribute my modification under MIT license while mentioning origin of code - I see no issue here.

There are other licenses within .NET runtime 3rd party notice, however it should not be relevant to library I want to modify.

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  • The MIT license says "The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software." So please tell us what is difficult about including the 2 lines you quoted above in the files, and --if you add changes-- include your own copyright statement as well?
    – Martin_in_AUT
    Dec 19, 2022 at 17:41
  • @Martin_in_AUT Not sure if I understand, perhaps I should rephrase my original question. I'm not representing MIT foundation obviously - and thus I'm asking whether I should still keep this file header (it's now me who distributes changed copy, but .NET Foundation is owner). At the same time, MIT license mentions "shall be" and "substantial portions"... Probably seeing complication where there's none, just want to be sure.
    – Zdeněk
    Dec 26, 2022 at 22:28
  • You need to keep all the old attribution notices and license language, and add your new lines.
    – Martin_in_AUT
    Dec 27, 2022 at 10:07

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