Questions tagged [github]
GitHub is a web-based Git repository hosting service, which offers free accounts for FLOSS software projects. Use this tag for questions about how working with GitHub affects open source projects.
38
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What can I assume if a publicly published project has no license?
There is some code on GitHub that I would like to use. The repository has no public declaration of license that I can find. But this particular project has over 200 forks and is a pretty active ...
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votes
4
answers
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How does GitHub's "forking right" cope with an "All rights reserved" project?
The GitHub FAQ states (emphasis mine):
You're under no obligation to choose a license. It's your right not to
include one with your code or project, but please be aware of the
implications. ...
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29
votes
3
answers
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When folks send me pull-requests on GitHub, what are their copyright/licensing terms by default?
Say I'm maintaining a GPLv3 project on GitHub with a LICENSE file, code headers and all. Now, a few folks made some code enhancements and sent me a pull-request. Does that automatically mean that they ...
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17
votes
1
answer
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If I translate/port a repository from one programming language to another, do I need to use the license file (Github) from that original project?
If I translate/port a repository from one programming language to another, do I need to use the license file (Github) from that original project? Or can I use my own license file.
I intend to use the ...
- 273
21
votes
2
answers
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Is my code FLOSS just because it is published it on GitHub?
Does publishing my code on GitHub make it FLOSS automatically? Is there some license automatically assigned to it? Is it "technically or say literally, open source"?
user490
16
votes
3
answers
7k
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Rules/Guidelines about forking a project vs. creating a new one?
After reading these lines:
make a new github project (not a fork).
merge in the original repository.
In this Answer, I was wondering if there are any rules or guidelines when to fork a ...
- 163
10
votes
1
answer
3k
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Do Contributors Own Copyright After Sending Contributions?
I have a GitHub repository which its license is GPL. Although of this, in the "about" window of my program, I mentioned that I own the copyright (like this: © My name, 2017). And I added the GPL text ...
- 235
4
votes
1
answer
2k
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How do I license my project which is based on Apache 2.0?
I'm working on an app for android. I found this project on GitHub licensed under Apache 2.0. I am planning to make modifications to the project and use it commercially. I am also planning to monetize ...
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48
votes
2
answers
5k
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What's the right way to ask if a GitHub project is maintained?
It happens all the time. You come across a useful-looking project that has few or no recent commits, many long-open issues and pull requests, and nothing is changing. How do you usually ask if the ...
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31
votes
9
answers
19k
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If someone else uploads my GPL'd code to Github without my permission, do they not put it at risk of being stolen by Microsoft?
I was alarmed to see that someone uploaded one of my old GPL'd projects to Github.
Github has refused to remove it however, and suggests I contact the uploader who is completely anonymous and cannot ...
user15474
19
votes
3
answers
11k
views
Common practice on GitHub and license/copyright
I have been searching the web for quite some time now, but the plethora of opinions/comments/articles about licensing questions make it difficult to verify how trustworthy the various sources are. ...
- 191
19
votes
3
answers
3k
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Are the new GitHub Terms of service a kiss of death for open source projects?
This recent post tends to say that the new GitHub TOS make most open source projects at odds to comply with both their FOSS licensing and the TOS.
Is this right?
Anything copyleft (GPL, AGPL, LGPL,...
- 14.7k
13
votes
2
answers
24k
views
What is the correct way to add license information to source code?
I have recently released some projects on GitHub and its catching people's attention(I had released earlier too but they were just for learning and didn't carry much weight).
But I think I made a ...
- 233
10
votes
2
answers
3k
views
Who will be the copyright owner of a new file in a forked repository on github?
Let's say there is a MIT Licensed repository on github, then by definition all the files that belongs to the repository is owned by the copyright holder of the repository.
But if I fork the project ...
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5
votes
1
answer
271
views
Can I use an alternative license on GitHub that is not listed there?
Can I use an alternative license on GitHub that isn't listed? Specifically I want to use License Zero.
- 153
17
votes
3
answers
8k
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What if somebody removed my name from MIT license
Case: I developed a software and uploaded it to Github with MIT license.
To apply the license, I created a LICENSE file with MIT license preamble (as mentioned in choosealicense.com)
Somebody cloned(...
- 173
14
votes
1
answer
4k
views
How to deal with copyright infringement on GitHub
I have a public repository on GitHub. Some of the code was copy-and-pasted into another repository without keeping Licence headers and without any other back-linking to the original repository.
How ...
- 243
12
votes
1
answer
1k
views
Choosing a License for a Tutorial Site
I apologize in advance for what is probably a dumb question, but I'm trying to do this the right way from the beginning.
I'm putting together a coding tutorial site, and my main question boils down ...
- 223
11
votes
2
answers
8k
views
Must author's name be included in GNU GPL v3?
I noticed the GNU GPL v3 license created by Github is very different than the one created by Netbeans. One of the differences is the first line in Netbean's is Copyright (C) 2016 hotwisp Must the GPL ...
- 351
11
votes
2
answers
2k
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Is a license bound to a commit?
Lets say there is some software hosted in a public github git repository under some license A. The owner and copyright-holder now decides to relicense the source-code to another license B. If i would ...
- 213
9
votes
3
answers
5k
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How to complete CLA on GitHub
I have submitted a pull request on GitHub and the organization asked me to sign the CLA before they can merge the pull request, who currently has the red label 'cla-required'.
How can I do this? ...
- 217
9
votes
2
answers
379
views
How can i grow my open source project?
I have recently started my first open source project. I want people to contribute their ideas and to help grow this project. I don't know how I should spread it. I have a guide on how to contribute, a ...
- 109
8
votes
4
answers
2k
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Can a team be the copyright holder (MIT)?
I'm developing in a team of OSS developers and currently my name is specified in all LICENSE files or copyright headers. But, as it's a teamwork instead of writing "Copyright (c) 2017 MY Name" I would ...
- 301
8
votes
1
answer
963
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Licensing code on GitHub in a valid way
I'm currently developing something on GitHub. I would like to keep it open source; however I want to make sure in no way am I liable for any issues, and that my code cannot simply be copied and ...
- 193
8
votes
1
answer
467
views
Licensed Projects: How many projects are licensed without a file?
I've been searching around a little bit for statistics on how many projects are licensed with a licence file in their repository. I found this article with a graph:
The spike between 2013 and 2014 ...
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8
votes
1
answer
3k
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I want to make my private GitHub repo public; can I put part of it under MIT license, and keep the rest protected?
I have been working on a project that is hosted on GitHub in a private repository. The repo has three directories, call them frame, private1, private2. The frame directory is framework code used by ...
- 181
7
votes
1
answer
586
views
Is the text in my open source project under the GPL?
I have an open source project that used to be under the GPL licence (now it has no licence).
In this repository I had many short stories. My intention was for the code to be open source but the ...
- 181
7
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Can I publish my iOS app store app code to GitHub under MIT/GPL
I am about to start developing an iOS app which will be published on Apple App Store.
While developing this app, I am thinking to push all the code to GitHub public repository; pull requests from ...
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7
votes
7
answers
5k
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How do I license, "Use my code as per the GNU GPL, but don't put it on GitHub"
I recently received a "surprise" email asking a question about one of my GPL'ed projects, and referring to code downloaded from https://github.com/icaoberg/mimetex/ That was the first I ever heard ...
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votes
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456
views
Is having a repository on GitHub considered distribution?
TL;DR
Is having a repository on GitHub considered distribution in the sense of a license?
Description
I have some repositories on GitHub. Now I modified a file for a project. The file was licensed ...
- 181
7
votes
1
answer
808
views
Is a git repository enough to show changes to the code for GNU-GPLv3?
I want to create a fork of an opensource project.
I'm planning to make significant changes to it and I will keep these changes on a git(hub) repository that is available to anyone. As such changes ...
- 73
5
votes
1
answer
6k
views
How to retain complete copyright on a GitHub open source project
I'm about to start a project and make it 'open source' cause I really like it, and would fit perfectly my project spirit. The project is divided in 2 parts:
The main application, whose anyone could ...
- 133
5
votes
3
answers
177
views
I was told by a project that they only want my help on a few things
I am a young programmer who is interested in many many different types of projects and often start my own projects which are far too large to complete by myself so I went out and tried to find a ...
- 151
5
votes
2
answers
655
views
Handling copyright infringement in your own open source project
What do you do if you discover that some part of your own open source project infringes copyright?
Consider the following hypothetical situation. An open source project's maintainer finds code in his ...
3
votes
2
answers
269
views
Can a SaaS product by successfully developed as Open Source?
The accepted answer on How can large open source projects be monetized? mentions open source SaaS.
Once you are successful enough in one of the above, you can afford giving away your software for ...
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3
votes
1
answer
181
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putting on github the GPL code of a dead person
Jacques Pitrat was one of my intellectual masters, and the pioneer of French AI (his PhD thesis mentioned artificial intelligence in 1966). He was the president of the jury of my PhD defense (1990). ...
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2
votes
1
answer
1k
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Is it possible to get rich prosecuting GitHub users of an unlicensed fork?
On the thread Half of GitHub Code Unsafe To Use (If You Want Open Source) you can find a recipe to getting rich:
Post it on Github
Make everyone think it's free to use.
Sue everyone you can ...
- 295
2
votes
1
answer
229
views
Is commit author name stripping copyright infringement?
I'm the author of Fulguris which is in conflict with Styx. Both projects are MPL 2.0. Fulguris is a fork of the decade old Lightning and Styx is just a rebrand of Fulguris.
Styx completely destroyed ...
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