<br><br><div><span class="gmail_quote">On 3/13/07, <b class="gmail_sendername">Dovid Bender</b> <<a href="mailto:asterisk@dovid.net">asterisk@dovid.net</a>> wrote:</span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Hi Guys,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">I know this is a bit OT but with the talk on GNU
here I figured I would ask here. I wrote a small backup script for asterisk
and I wanted to release it as GNU. What do I have to to release it as GNU
?</font></div></div></blockquote><div><br>Indeed it is offtopic, however ...<br>GNU is not a license, the GPL is a license. Just becuase something is GPLed does not mean its GNU, for example bayonne is the GNU open source telephony suite, however both asterisk and bayonne are GPLed (asterisk is dual licensed, also commercial).
<br></div><br></div>To release with a GPL license, basically you have to own the copyright to it, or if you include code from others, get their permission to license it that way or select software with compatible licenses. Then if you want to inflict restrictions on the ability to work with other open source software you need to place the GPL license file in there and state that your code is licensed under the GPL.
<br><br>Note not all OSI approved 'open source' licenses are compatible with the GPL. The PHP license, 4 clause BSD, MPL, basically anything that doesnt let the GPL parasitically take over is deemed 'incompatable'. The GPL prevents working with the open source world in this respect, where other licenses are more well suited to interopability with FOSS projects. Additionally its not well suited for artistic content (images, videos, sounds, etc) the creative commons is because it has use restrictions you can select, where the file interface is a 'clean' interface when working with the GPL so it really does nothing for those types of files.
<br><br>Choose your license carefully, figure out what the limitations are and what benefits it gives you, dont just follow the rhetoric of 'the gpl keeps your software free' (it really doesnt it just puts limits on other open source developers preventing their use).
<br><br>If you then decide to continue with the gpl visit <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-howto.html">http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-howto.html</a><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Trixter <a href="http://www.0xdecafbad.com">
http://www.0xdecafbad.com</a> Bret McDanel<br>Belfast +44 28 9099 6461 US +1 516 687 5200<br><a href="http://www.trxtel.com">http://www.trxtel.com</a> the VoIP provider that pays you!