25
votes
Accepted
What should I do with the copyright details in a codebase when modifying it when it wasn't forked?
I think this may be one of those cases where people get confused about copyright because they're caught up in the mechanics of github.
You have downloaded a copy of a piece of code licensed under MIT, ...
- 37.6k
23
votes
How do you work with open core code efficiently in Git?
Most version control systems (like git) don't allow to split the repository into "visible" and "invisible" parts. What you can do with git is to have the public part in one ...
- 4,969
16
votes
Accepted
Why GitHub is not opensource when it's use Git that has GPLv2 license?
The GPL does not forbid you from using GPL'ed software. It requires something far more specific: if you modify the GPL'ed software and publish your modifications, then you can only publish under the ...
- 33k
10
votes
Accepted
License violation within git history
Whilst IANAL/IANYL, and no developer, it seems to me that the question boils down to "is it a licence violation to offer a repository from which someone could, with some effort, extract a non-licence-...
- 37.6k
9
votes
Accepted
Is a git repository enough to show changes to the code for GNU-GPLv3?
As far as I can tell, the GPL does not require you to indicate what specific changes you make to a GPL-licensed work. The GPLv3 says
The work must carry prominent notices stating that you modified ...
- 30.8k
8
votes
How do you work with open core code efficiently in Git?
A common solution I've seen is to design the core for extensibility and put the closed-source elements into extensions. Since the closed-source portions of the product interact only through the ...
- 973
8
votes
Accepted
Once I did a PR on a repo, should I delete my fork?
One useful way of handling long-term contributions from a fork could be:
Never touch master. On your fork, master reflects the status on the main project.
First, configure an upstream remote on your ...
- 196
6
votes
Once I did a PR on a repo, should I delete my fork?
You aren't using git branches correctly.
Essentially, you should create a branch each time you want to submit a PR, make all the changes on that branch (could be more than one patch) and push it from ...
- 3,757
6
votes
Accepted
Is "Signed-off-by" really needed for a GitHub hosted project?
The signed-off line does not indicate the author but who authorized the commit to enter the project's repository. It has primarily nothing to do with who committed or pushed the commit.
Commonly it's ...
- 8,042
5
votes
Accepted
Using different licenses for different branches of the same repository
Git branches don't work very well for maintaining different “editions” of the same project, because there's no good way to share changes across branches without merging them completely. So simply for ...
- 33k
5
votes
Accepted
Can git binaries be distributed and called by a commercial app without providing source code?
I don't think it does, no. As the GPL FAQ makes clear:
An “aggregate” consists of a number of separate programs, distributed together on the same CD-ROM or other media. The GPL permits you to create ...
- 37.6k
4
votes
Accepted
How to say thanks in a Git repository
A common place is indeed in the readme, a separate contributors file which accompanies the project. Optionally and preferentially also shown this list in the application somewhere in the about ...
- 8,042
4
votes
License violation within git history
This might be technically be a case of copyright infringement, however:
you acted in good faith
you already corrected the license violation
you never pushed a HEAD that was in violation
Personally, ...
- 33k
4
votes
How do you work with open core code efficiently in Git?
This situation is common at large software companies which contribute to open source projects, so there are some tools you can find specifically to migrate between open and closed repositories. I have ...
- 141
3
votes
Accepted
Am I allowed to squash commits in repository with Apache 2.0 license?
In a nutshell, the Apache license allows you to modify the source code as long as you document your changes. You could view squashing the commits as such a change, and document it by stating something ...
- 3,757
3
votes
Accepted
How to track upstream using Git when forking a project?
I would use a separate branch that mirrors exactly the head branch of the SVN repository, besides a master branch that contains the latest release of your fork and any other branches (feature, release,...
- 22.8k
3
votes
Accepted
Need feature in PR with failing checks
To resolve this problem you can fork the version that includes a feature that you need and resolve the check problem. After that you can submit the PR with your changes.
An example:
There exist a ...
- 156
2
votes
Accepted
What is the license of the documentation at "https://git-scm.org/docs"
The man pages of Git are under the same license as Git, e.g. GPL 2.0 (and v2.0 only: this is the same as the Linux kernel license)
- 13.8k
2
votes
Accepted
Join as project member on invent kde
The best way to know how you're expected to contribute to the project would be either check project documentation or reach one of the project maintainers.
Many open-source projects have would have ...
2
votes
License violation within git history
The git repository as all information, so also the correct one.
IANAL, and more practical: I would make sure that all tags and publish branches will have the correct license. I would amend the source ...
2
votes
Accepted
Licensing of Git(Hub) history
Each commit in git history is a legally distinct entity, and is licensed according to the LICENSE file that existed at that point in history. As an author, you have the right to change the license of ...
- 496
2
votes
Once I did a PR on a repo, should I delete my fork?
Here are the steps you need to do to get a clean, nice pull request. I generally suggest this workflow to people with less previous exposure to git. You could make a rebase on auth repo master, but ...
- 121
1
vote
GPL: How to "inherit" license from another project?
Q1: for a repository that is going to be hosted on github, what's a propper way of "inheriting" this license? i.e. what should I put in the license file and what should I put in the header ...
- 22.8k
1
vote
How to deal with copy-left in source-code history prior open-sourcing?
With respect to the other answers, I disagree with them.
You have developed some code, which you have released under a non-copyleft free licence; let's pick BSD 3-clause (BSD3). The choice doesn't ...
- 37.6k
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