Documentation project containing articles and code examples with different licenses

Question

I'm currently working on an open source collaborative project, and I am still confused regarding licenses, and weeks of research didn't really help me pinpoint my particular case. Let me expose it:

1. My aim is to release my project on GitHub, for free and with a license as permissive as possible -- as far as I am concerned, all my contributions could just as well be in the public domain.

2. The project is a collection of articles and source code examples for a specific programming language, and it's build in the form of a website: I use a static flat-file CMS that builds from markdown files into a website. It will be released on GitHub in different ways:

   • The main repo will contain the source markdown docs, and also some SASS libraries, JS script, NodeJS libs, and open fonts (which come in different licenses).
   • The "compiled" project will also be available as a browsable website in GitHub pages (here the SASS/NodeJS libraries will no longer be included).
   • An "HTML compiled" version of the project will be available under releases, for offline browsing.

Central to the project is a book which the author has declared CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 when he decided he would no longer update the book, and explicitly wished others will take on the task of upgrading it with new releases of the language it deals with -- and so it has been, with all the code being corrected to match newer versions of the language, and some chapters retouched here and there.

What confuses me here is the SHARE-ALIKE aspect. I see my project as a collection of articles and examples, taken here and there with authors' explicit permission or in accordance to them being open source. Does it mean that the CC BY-NC-SA applies only to the book and its code examples, or it means that my whole project will have to be released under CC BY-NC-SA?

In a way, it's a case similar to CDs which come with computer magazines: they contain different softwares, each with its own license. Even if my project is a single project, to which I need to declare a license for it, is it correct to understand that each different chapter and its code examples are indipendent of each other and could have each one a different open source license, without conflicts?

After all, it would be difficult for me to reconcile the license of every single element included in the project (open fonts, sass and NodeJS libs, JS scripts, etc.).

I've tried some research on this topic, but didn't find clear answers because most of what I've found was talking about merging source codes together into a single derivative work -- were licenses might conflict because not all of them could be satisfied together. Also, I see this project more as an encyclopedic work, were code is just there for examples (as it would be in a book).

Anyone could advice me on how to go about it? As I said, I'd like to keep the project's license as permissive as possible, but also preserve the license of individual contributions to it.

Answer 1

CC BY-NC-SA has three requirements:

• Attribution (BY)
• NonCommercial (NC)
• ShareAlike (SA)

Attribution is very easy to fulfil. ShareAlike is a copyleft-like mechanism but only activates if you perform an adaptation, that is if you modify the work. If you are including code examples verbatim then you aren't adapting.

The real problem is the NC clause. You cannot use it for any commercial purpose, adaptation or no. In practical terms, your entire book falls under a non-commercial license.

It's true that if your use qualifies as fair use, then you may be exempt from all these terms. But your use doesn't sound like it will qualify.

If making the whole book non-commercial is out of the question, one work-around is to use normal hyperlinks to link to those examples instead, which most countries don't consider copyright infringement.

Answer 2

Does it mean that the CC BY-NC-SA applies only to the book and its code examples, or it means that my whole project will have to be released under CC BY-NC-SA?

The way I read the "copyleft" terms of this CC license I would consider this to apply only to the book and its code examples that were originally licensed under the CC BY-NC-SA license.

Even if my project is a single project, to which I need to declare a license for it, is it correct to understand that each different chapter and its code examples are independent of each other and could have each one a different open source license, without conflicts?

In general yes. In particular I could license this collection of mine under a license which is different that the (possibly many) licenses of each parts be they code or articles from various sources. That is if this collection is sufficiently original to be copyrightable in the first place. And if each part is indeed under some license allowing redistribution.