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Thread: re-licensing example code to GPL

  1. #1
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    Question re-licensing example code to GPL

    I want to include some code from qwt example source code into my GPLv3 licensed open source application. Specifically these files from the "realtime" example:

    scrollbar.cpp
    scrollbar.h
    scrollzoomer.cpp
    scrollzoomer.h

    These files do not have license headers. I assume they are under the Qwt license as other source files. I was wondering if I can re-license them to GPL to keep licensing clear in my application. I'm thinking about adding this header to the files:

    Qt Code:
    1. /*
    2.   Copyright © 2014 Uwe Rathmann
    3.  
    4.   Note: This file is re-licensed from Qwt License to GPL. You can get the
    5.   original file from Qwt project (http://qwt.sourceforge.net/)
    6.  
    7.   This file is part of serialplot.
    8.  
    9.   serialplot is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
    10.   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
    11.   the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
    12.   (at your option) any later version.
    13.  
    14.   serialplot is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
    15.   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
    16.   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the
    17.   GNU General Public License for more details.
    18.  
    19.   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
    20.   along with serialplot. If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
    21. */
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    Would that be okay?

  2. #2
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    Default Re: re-licensing example code to GPL

    The intention of the code of the examples ( not the code of the library ! ) is, that it should be allowed to copy it to application code without further obligations. I should find a license for this type of use case - but as long as it has not been done you are right: the Qwt license is indeed the one that matters today.

    But the GPL is more restrictive than the Qwt license and the "re-licensing" would be misleading as it implies obligations for a user of that code that are not there.
    So if you try to "keep licensing clear" better add a link to the original source and the Qwt license on top of your copy.

    This is how Qt handles it, where you also find a lot of 3rd party code having less restrictive licenses.

    Uwe

  3. #3
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    Default Re: re-licensing example code to GPL

    Thanks for reply. I will keep the Qwt license then. How about this header?

    Qt Code:
    1. /*
    2.   Copyright © 2014 Uwe Rathmann
    3.  
    4.   This file is copied from Qwt project; you can redistribute it and/or modify it
    5.   under the terms of the Qwt License, Version 1.0. You can obtain the original
    6.   source code and the details of the Qwt License from the Qwt website:
    7.   http://qwt.sourceforge.net/
    8. */
    To copy to clipboard, switch view to plain text mode 

    Should I put a link to the exact file in the svn repository?

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