Chad Whitacre <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > I'm trying to determine what the threshold is in terms of lines of > code I can copy/paste from GPL software before coming under the GPL > myself. > > Is this issue spelled out anywhere?
You don't "come under the GPL". The original code is under the GPL, and to use it, you have to heed its licence. It may not be distributed as part of something not under the GPL. The copyright laws of your land determine what amount of code is actually necessary before you overstep your default legal rights and require specific license by the copyright holder (which would then be the GPL). As a rule of thumb, the FSF requires for contributions copyright assignments for changes of more than about 10 or 15 lines, unless those changes are purely mechanical. It is not more than a rule of thumb: of course just removing all newlines does not make copyright go away. So that would be a ballpark figure for maintaining sole legal responsibility if you are careful. Now if your goal is to be reasonably safe from cease-and-desist orders and similar: few people are going to sue for 15 lines or have a chance to prevail, and replacing them usually is not much of an issue. Your code does not come under GPL under any interpretation of the law: it is just that putting it under the GPL is the simplest way to comply with copyright law. Another way, of course, is to remove the offending code and replace it with something you wrote yourself. -- David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum _______________________________________________ Gnu-misc-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/gnu-misc-discuss
