[Fedora-legal-list] How to note 'GPLv3 with options taken'?

[Richard Fontana]

(IAARHL, IANASL[1], TINLA)

On Fri, 29 Aug 2008 11:56:59 +1000
Andrew Bartlett <abartlet at samba.org> wrote:

> The GPLv3 allows certain options to be taken, so that it becomes
> compatible with a number of other licences, such as BSD varients.
> 
> Samba4 includes a number of pieces of such code in the form of Heimdal
> (a Kerberos implementation we currently have bundled), do I have to do
> make some special note (other than complying with the restrictions, by
> including copyright notices in the docs)?
 
No, if you are just incorporating third-party code under pre-existing
GPL-compatible licenses in customary fashion, you don't have to do
anything. The practice under GPLv3 is exactly the same as the practice
under GPLv2. E.g., a GPLv2/v3-licensed work can contain some parts under
compatible BSD-variant licenses, but no special notice beyond
preservation of the BSD-like license notice is necessary.  The
legitimacy of compatibility [if indeed it is legitimate in any given
case] is understood. 

Where you would need to do something extra is if you are applying GPLv3
to your own code (as opposed to third-party code under a formal non-GPL
but GPL-compatible license) along with one of the tolerated additional
conditions.  In that case, reference to the particular category in
GPLv3 section 7 authorizing the additional term would be good
practice. Same goes for permissive exceptions; the FSF now has some
examples of how those should be applied in GPLv3-licensed code, which
involve making reference to section 7. 

- RF

[1]Samba is a former client.