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Hello everybody, |
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|
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Please find below the draft of a new copyright policy, which was in |
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the making since 2013 at least. After several iterations, we have come |
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up with a policy with the following key elements: |
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|
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- Gentoo projects must release their work under GPL-compatible free |
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software licenses, preferably under GPL-2 or later. CC-BY-SA-3.0 |
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(or 4.0) can be used for documentation. |
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|
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- All commits to Gentoo repositories must be accompanied by a |
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certificate of origin. Typically, this would be declared by adding |
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a "Signed-off-by:" line (or several of them) to every commit. |
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This model is very similar to the one used for development of the |
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Linux kernel. |
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|
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- The copyright notice, especially for ebuilds, will contain the |
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name of the largest contributor, plus an "and others" clause when |
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necessary. (So the "Copyright Gentoo Foundation" lines will be |
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phased out.) |
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|
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The original second part of the policy, namely to encourage developers |
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to license their contributions to the Gentoo Foundation (e.g., using |
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the FSFE's Fiduciary License Agreement), has been dropped, at least |
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for the time being. |
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|
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We have chosen to publish this as GLEP 76, because we have a defined |
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workflow for GLEPs. However, the approval process will be somewhat |
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different, because both trustees and council are involved with it |
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(see combined trustees and council meeting on 2018-01-20 [1]). |
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|
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The reStructuredText source of the GLEP can be found at [2] and its |
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rendered version is at [3]. For reference, the full text is also |
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included below. |
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|
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Ulrich |
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|
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[1] https://projects.gentoo.org/council/meeting-logs/20180120.txt |
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[2] ReST: https://gitweb.gentoo.org/data/glep.git/tree/glep-0076.rst |
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[3] HTML: https://www.gentoo.org/glep/glep-0076.html |
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|
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|
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--- |
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GLEP: 76 |
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Title: Copyright Policy |
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Author: Richard Freeman <rich0@g.o>, |
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Alice Ferrazzi <alicef@g.o>, |
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Ulrich Müller <ulm@g.o>, |
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Robin H. Johnson <robbat2@g.o>, |
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Michał Górny <mgorny@g.o> |
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Type: Informational |
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Status: Draft |
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Version: 1 |
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Created: 2013-04-23 |
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Last-Modified: 2018-06-10 |
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Post-History: 2018-06-10 |
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Content-Type: text/x-rst |
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--- |
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|
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|
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Status |
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====== |
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|
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The policies on this page have no effect! These are draft policies up |
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for discussion, not final versions. |
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|
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|
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Abstract |
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======== |
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|
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This GLEP introduces a copyright and licensing policy for Gentoo |
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projects. It requires all contributions of software or documentation |
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to be released under a free license, and to be accompanied by a |
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certificate of origin. |
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|
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|
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Motivation |
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========== |
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|
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The copyright ownership of Gentoo materials is ambiguous due to |
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historical factors, and this GLEP attempts to improve the process |
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going forward. |
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|
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In the beginning (2000 or earlier), the copyright header stated that |
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*Gentoo Technologies, Inc.* was the copyright holder, without any |
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formal paperwork. The formal assignment document was however only |
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introduced in early 2004. The assignment had many objectors (mostly |
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on the ``gentoo-core`` mailing list). The developer recruiting |
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procedures attempted to require signing of the document as a condition |
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for becoming a developer, but it was not applied to pre-existing |
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developers, or those that objected. |
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|
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Later, the *Gentoo Foundation* was established, and copyrights were |
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formally transferred (including nullifying original developer |
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assignments to *Gentoo Technologies, Inc.*), and the copyright header |
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was updated. The formal assignment document text was updated in 2006, |
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but the formal assignment process had already been abandoned in |
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mid-2004. |
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|
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Throughout this, the presence of copyright headers existed as a |
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policy, and continues to exist to this day. Some files also still |
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contain or have in the past contained additional copyright headers, |
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attributing ownership to other parties. |
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|
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The policy to have copyright notices ascribing copyright ownership to |
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the Gentoo Foundation caused an issue when Gentoo developers forked |
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another project and hosted the fork on Gentoo infrastructure. To |
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comply with the previous policy the copyright notices were modified, |
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which caused concerns with the project the files were forked from. |
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Our previous policy completely neglected the possibility that Gentoo |
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might want to host files that were not created internally. |
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|
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Finally, since the early days of Gentoo new ideas around copyright |
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licensing have become more popular, such as the FSFE's Fiduciary |
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License Agreement [#FLA]_, which takes a copyleft approach to |
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copyright licensing, while also better complying with copyright laws |
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in nations that have author's rights. |
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|
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The goal here was to create a policy that was flexible enough to cover |
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forks and situations where Gentoo would not own the majority of the |
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copyright in a file. |
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|
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|
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Specification |
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============= |
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|
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Purpose / Scope |
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--------------- |
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|
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This policy documents how Gentoo contributors comply and document |
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copyright for any contributions made to Gentoo. Anyone committing |
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documentation or sources to any repository hosted on Gentoo |
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infrastructure or to any official Gentoo project (independently |
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of hosting) must comply with this policy. Unofficial Gentoo projects |
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are also recommended to use this policy. |
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|
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Questions regarding this policy should be directed to the trustees or |
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the -project list. Any concerns over possible copyright violations |
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should be directed to the Trustees if they cannot be worked out to |
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anyone's satisfaction with the appropriate maintainer. |
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|
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|
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Licensing of Gentoo Projects |
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---------------------------- |
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|
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Every Gentoo project must abide by the Gentoo Social Contract |
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[#SOCIAL-CONTRACT]_ and release its work under one or more of the |
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following: |
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|
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a) The GNU General Public License, version 2 or later (GPL-2+) |
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[#GPL-2]_. |
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|
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b) The Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License |
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(CC-BY-SA-3.0, only for documentation) [#CC-BY-SA-3.0]_. |
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*[Note: or version 4.0, to be decided]* |
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|
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c) A license approved as GPL compatible by the Free Software |
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Foundation [#GPL-COMPAT]_. |
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|
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Exceptions for other free software licenses will be granted by the |
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Gentoo Foundation on a case by case basis. |
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|
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For easy reference, the license for each project should be documented |
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on the wiki page at [#PROJECTS]_. |
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|
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|
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Certificate of Origin |
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--------------------- |
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|
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All commits to Gentoo project repositories shall be accompanied by a |
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certificate of origin. The purpose of the certificate is to declare |
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that the contribution can be modified and redistributed in accordance |
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with the project's license. |
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|
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For commits made using a VCS, the committer shall certify agreement |
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to the Gentoo DCO by adding ``Signed-off-by: Name <e-mail>`` to the |
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commit message as a separate line. Committers must use their real |
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name, i.e., the name that would appear in an official document like |
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a passport. |
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|
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The following is the current Gentoo DCO:: |
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|
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Gentoo Developer's Certificate of Origin, revision 1 |
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|
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By making a contribution to this project, I certify that: |
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|
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(1) The contribution was created in whole or in part by me, and I have |
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the right to submit it under the free software license indicated |
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in the file; or |
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|
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(2) The contribution is based upon previous work that, to the best |
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of my knowledge, is covered under an appropriate free software |
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license, and I have the right under that license to submit that |
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work with modifications, whether created in whole or in part by |
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me, under the same free software license (unless I am permitted |
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to submit under a different license), as indicated in the file; or |
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|
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(3) The contribution is a license text (or a file of similar nature), |
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and verbatim distribution is allowed; or |
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|
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(4) The contribution was provided directly to me by some other person |
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who certified (1), (2), (3), or (4), and I have not modified it. |
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|
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I understand and agree that this project and the contribution are |
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public and that a record of the contribution (including all personal |
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information I submit with it, including my sign-off) is maintained |
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indefinitely and may be redistributed consistent with this project or |
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the free software license(s) involved. |
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|
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The Gentoo DCO is licensed under a Creative Commons |
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Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License [#CC-BY-SA-3.0]_. |
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It is based on the Linux Kernel DCO [#OSDL-DCO]_, released by Open |
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Source Development Labs, Inc. in 2005 under a CC-BY-SA-2.5 License. |
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|
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|
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Copyright Attribution |
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--------------------- |
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|
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All files included in Gentoo projects must contain an appropriate |
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copyright notice, as defined by this policy. |
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|
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A proper copyright notice appears near the top of the file, and reads:: |
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|
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Copyright YEARS LARGEST-CONTRIBUTOR [OTHER-CONTRIBUTORS] and others |
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|
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The largest contributor is whatever entity owns copyright to some |
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portion of the largest number of lines in the file. Additional |
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contributors can be listed, but this is neither required nor |
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recommended. The "and others" text may be omitted if the explicitly |
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listed contributors hold copyright to the entire file. |
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|
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Anyone finding a file out of compliance should file a bug against the |
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associated project/package providing as much information as possible. |
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Files that are not brought into compliance within 60 days or upon a |
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request for removal by a aggrieved copyright holder will be removed. |
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Any concerns not addressed by a maintainer can be appealed to the |
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Trustees. |
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|
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|
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Rationale |
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========= |
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|
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Policy |
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------ |
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|
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This document aims to provide a single consistent copyright policy for |
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all Gentoo projects. It is explicitly enforced for all official Gentoo |
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projects in order to protect the interests of Gentoo as a whole, |
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including its contributors, developers and users. Additionally, it is |
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enforced for all other projects hosted on Gentoo infrastructure in order |
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to protect the Gentoo infrastructure owners and improve consistency. |
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|
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The copyright model is built on the DCO model used by the Linux kernel |
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and requires all contributors to certify the legitimacy of their |
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contributions. This also requires that they use their real name for |
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signing; an anonymous certification or one under a pseudonym would not |
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mean anything. |
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|
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In the future, a second stage of this policy may use a combination of |
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the DCO model and an FLA model [#FLA]_ as it is used by different open |
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source projects. Contributors would be able to freely choose whether |
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they sign the FLA document or not. |
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|
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|
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Licensing of Projects |
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--------------------- |
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|
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The Social Contract mentions GPL-2 and CC-BY-SA-2.0, both with the |
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option to use them in a later version ("at our discretion"). In order |
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to facilitate interchange of software between different projects, we |
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aim for uniformity of their licensing. Therefore, items a) and b) |
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explicitly recommend the use of GPL-2+ and CC-BY-SA-3.0. The latter |
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is restricted to be used for documentation, because Creative Commons |
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themselves recommend against using their licenses for software |
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[#CC-SOFTWARE]_. |
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|
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Other GPL-compatible free software licenses that are not explicitly |
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listed are allowed by item c). This covers cases where compatibility |
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to licenses used by upstream projects is necessary. (For example, |
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the Gentoo BSD project may want to use the 2-clause or 3-clause BSD |
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license). |
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|
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By default, GPL-incompatible licenses (e.g., the CDDL) are not |
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allowed, because their use would hinder interchange of code between |
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Gentoo projects. However, the Foundation can grant exceptions to |
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this, as long as the license in question is a free software or open |
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source license. |
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|
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|
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DCO Changes |
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----------- |
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|
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The Gentoo DCO rev. 1 has been based on Linux Kernel DCO 1.1 |
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[#OSDL-DCO]_. It features the following modifications from |
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the original: |
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|
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1. The enumeration has been modified to use numeric points. |
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|
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2. Additional point (3) has been inserted:: |
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|
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(3) The contribution is a license text (or a file of similar nature), |
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and verbatim distribution is allowed; or |
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|
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3. The original point (c) has shifted to become point (4), and has been |
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updated to account for the additional point (3). |
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|
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4. The original point (d) has been transformed into a stand-alone |
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paragraph following the enumeration. |
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|
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5. The term "open source" has been replaced by "free software" |
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throughout. |
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|
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The new point was deemed necessary to allow committing license files |
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into the Gentoo repository, since those files usually do not permit |
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modification. It has been established that adding a clear provision |
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for this case is better than excluding those commits from DCO |
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compliance. Debian was facing a similar problem [#DEBIAN-LICENSE]_. |
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|
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The update of point (c) was necessary to allow the new clause being |
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certified by the person providing the contribution. |
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|
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The term "free software" is used for consistency with the language |
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of the Gentoo Social Contract [#SOCIAL-CONTRACT]_. |
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|
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The remaining changes were merely editorial. It has been established |
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that the last point is really separate from the other points, so it is |
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more appropriate to separate it from the enumeration by putting it |
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in a separate paragraph. |
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|
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|
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Acknowledgements |
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================ |
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|
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Many people have participated in invaluable discussions on this GLEP. |
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In particular, the authors would like to thank David Abbott, |
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Roy Bamford, Kristian Fiskerstrand, Andreas K. Hüttel, Matija Šuklje, |
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Matthew Thode, and Alec Warner for their input. |
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|
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|
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References |
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========== |
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|
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.. [#SOCIAL-CONTRACT] Gentoo Social Contract, |
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https://www.gentoo.org/get-started/philosophy/social-contract.html |
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|
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.. [#GPL-2] GNU General Public License, version 2 or later, |
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http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html |
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|
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.. [#CC-BY-SA-3.0] Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 |
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Unported License, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/ |
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|
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.. [#GPL-COMPAT] GPL-compatible free software licenses, |
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https://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.en.html#GPLCompatibleLicenses |
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|
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.. [#PROJECTS] Licensing of Gentoo projects, |
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https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Licenses/Licensing_of_Gentoo_projects |
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|
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.. [#OSDL-DCO] Developer's Certificate of Origin 1.1, |
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https://web.archive.org/web/20060524185355/http://www.osdlab.org/newsroom/press_releases/2004/2004_05_24_dco.html |
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|
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.. [#FLA] FSFE Legal: Fiduciary Licence Agreement (FLA), |
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https://fsfe.org/activities/ftf/fla.en.html |
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|
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.. [#CC-SOFTWARE] Can I apply a Creative Commons license to software? |
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https://creativecommons.org/faq/#can-i-apply-a-creative-commons-license-to-software |
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|
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.. [#DEBIAN-LICENSE] [debian-legal] License of the GPL license, |
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https://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2018/04/msg00006.html |
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|
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|
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Copyright |
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========= |
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|
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This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 |
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Unported License. To view a copy of this license, visit |
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http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/. |