Which copyright for a derivative work ?

Which copyright for a derivative work ?

by Allegre Guillaume -
Number of replies: 7

I'd like to know the best practices to specify the copyright on a contributed plugin, regarding to the Moodle standard header (@package / @subpackage / @copyright / @license).

In my specific case, it concerns a variant of the (official) lesson module, in which almost every file is slightly modified, and a few files are heavily modified (and 3 new are created).

Can I use multiple @copyright line ? Have I to add a note, eg. "This plugin is heavily based on the official lesson module and large portions of code are simply copied from there."

Thanks for any comment or pointing me to guidelines.

In reply to Allegre Guillaume

Re: Which copyright for a derivative work ?

by Joseph Rézeau -
Core developers की तस्वीर Particularly helpful Moodlers की तस्वीर Plugin developers की तस्वीर Testers की तस्वीर Translators की तस्वीर

Will you make this plugin available in the Moodle plugins repository?

Joseph

In reply to Allegre Guillaume

Re: Which copyright for a derivative work ?

by Tim Hunt -
Core developers की तस्वीर Documentation writers की तस्वीर Particularly helpful Moodlers की तस्वीर Peer reviewers की तस्वीर Plugin developers की तस्वीर

The copyright of every Moodle file is a tangled mix of all the people who have ever contributed. The only way to record that is the version history in git.

The policy is to add the @copyright line when you first create the file, but don't update it later.

In reply to Tim Hunt

Re: Which copyright for a derivative work ?

by Allegre Guillaume -

Sorry, Tim, but at a second thought, I don't know how to interpret your answer in my specific case.

I duplicate the standard activity "Lesson" into a new one, "Custom Lesson", then I modify (+/- slightly) the majority of files.

Do you understand copying a file as "creating" it, in which case I use my own copyright, os as "updating" it, in which case I keep the original copyright?

In reply to Allegre Guillaume

Re: Which copyright for a derivative work ?

by Tim Hunt -
Core developers की तस्वीर Documentation writers की तस्वीर Particularly helpful Moodlers की तस्वीर Peer reviewers की तस्वीर Plugin developers की तस्वीर

When I make a new file by copying an existing one, then I leave the copyright line at the top alone. That always seemed fairest to me.