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Embedded licenses in source code

Started by Ahnfelt Jul 1, 2008 at 1:11 PM 2 replies 1.4k views

Original Post

Jul 1, 2008 at 1:11 PM

In most sources I check out from version control of open source projects, every single source file contains some watered down paraphrase of the license and a reference to the full license (typically GPL). My question is: is that necessary? It feels quite redundant when they also come with a LICENSE.TXT, and it contributes negatively (albeit in a very insignificant way) to readability of the source code. [Edited by - Ahnfelt on July 1, 2008 2:11:35 PM]

frob

Jul 1, 2008 at 3:07 PM

Yes, it is necessary.

This is also one reason why most of these licenses typically don't strictly apply to non-source files like images and sound.

niteice

Jul 4, 2008 at 11:38 PM

Is it sufficient to say "see license.txt" instead of that long header?

Daaark

Jul 4, 2008 at 11:43 PM

Quote:
Original post by niteice
Is it sufficient to say "see license.txt" instead of that long header?

But what license.txt? If you mix and match 10,000 source files, that license.txt stuff goes out the window. [lol]

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