├── docs ├── _config.yml └── index.md ├── Project ├── README-PROJECT.md └── COMMITMENT ├── Company ├── Company-List.md ├── GPL Cooperation Commitment-Company-Template.md └── README-COMPANY.md ├── Individual └── README-INDIVIDUAL.md └── README.md /docs/_config.yml: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | theme: jekyll-theme-cayman 2 | title: GPL Cooperation Commitment 3 | description: Tell the world that you respect the good intentions of the open source community 4 | show_downloads: false 5 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Project/README-PROJECT.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # GPL Cooperation Commitment - Projects 2 | 3 | 4 | ## Project adoption of the GPL Cooperation Commitment. 5 | 6 | A project may wish to adopt the GPL Cooperation Commitment for all contributions going forward. Simply put this [file](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Project/COMMITMENT) in the same directory in your source repository as the GPLv2, LGPLv2 or LGPLv2.1 license file. 7 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Company/Company-List.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # The following companies have agreed to the GPL Cooperation Commitment. 2 | #### You may find information about each company's commitment to this iniative at the link provided below each company name (listed in alphabetical order). 3 | 4 | [Alibaba](https://github.com/alibaba/GPL-Cooperation-Commitment/wiki/Alibaba-Group-and-Ant-Financial-announcement-of-joining-the-GPL-Cooperation-Commitment) 5 | 6 | [Amazon](https://aws.github.io/gpl-commitment.html) 7 | 8 | [Arm Limited](https://www.arm.com/company/policies/open-source) 9 | 10 | [CA, Inc.](https://www.ca.com/us/legal/gpl-commitment.html) 11 | 12 | Canonical 13 | 14 | [Cisco Systems, Inc.](https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/legal/open-source-documentation.html) 15 | 16 | Facebook, Inc. 17 | 18 | [GitLab](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/development/licensing.html#gpl-cooperation-commitment) 19 | 20 | [Google LLC](https://opensource.google.com/gpl-enforcement/) 21 | 22 | [HPE](https://news.hpe.com/hpe-joins-other-community-leaders-in-protecting-developers-and-enabling-innovation/) 23 | 24 | [IBM](https://developer.ibm.com/code/open/) 25 | 26 | [Intel](https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2018/07/16/extending-rights-address-open-source-compliance-issues) 27 | 28 | [Liferay](https://community.liferay.com/gplv3-enforcement-statement) 29 | 30 | [Linaro](https://www.linaro.org/blog/keeping-open-source-fair-open-and-collaborative/) 31 | 32 | [Microsoft](https://open.microsoft.com/2018/03/19/microsoft-open-source-licensing-gplv3/) 33 | 34 | [MariaDB](https://mariadb.com/resources/blog/mariadb-pledges-cure-period-open-source-licenses) 35 | 36 | Oath 37 | 38 | NEC 39 | 40 | [Pivotal](https://content.pivotal.io/pivotal-blog/pivotal-joins-other-technology-industry-leaders-to-advance-open-source-licensing) 41 | 42 | [Red Hat, Inc.](https://www.redhat.com/en/about/gplv3-enforcement-statement) 43 | 44 | Royal Philips 45 | 46 | SAP 47 | 48 | [SAS](https://support.sas.com/en/documentation/gpl-compliance-commitment.html) 49 | 50 | [SUSE LLC](https://www.suse.com/licensing/gplv3-enforcement-statement/) 51 | 52 | [Toyota](https://www.toyota.co.jp/jpn/sustainability/governance/compliance/Toyota_GPL_Commitment.pdf) 53 | 54 | [VMware](http://vmware.github.io/gpl-commitment) 55 | 56 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Project/COMMITMENT: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | GPL Cooperation Commitment 2 | Version 1.0 3 | 4 | Before filing or continuing to prosecute any legal proceeding or claim 5 | (other than a Defensive Action) arising from termination of a Covered 6 | License, we commit to extend to the person or entity ('you') accused 7 | of violating the Covered License the following provisions regarding 8 | cure and reinstatement, taken from GPL version 3. As used here, the 9 | term 'this License' refers to the specific Covered License being 10 | enforced. 11 | 12 | However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your 13 | license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) 14 | provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly 15 | and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the 16 | copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some 17 | reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation. 18 | 19 | Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is 20 | reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the 21 | violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you 22 | have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) 23 | from that copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 24 | days after your receipt of the notice. 25 | 26 | We intend this Commitment to be irrevocable, and binding and 27 | enforceable against us and assignees of or successors to our 28 | copyrights. 29 | 30 | Definitions 31 | 32 | 'Covered License' means the GNU General Public License, version 2 33 | (GPLv2), the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 34 | (LGPLv2.1), or the GNU Library General Public License, version 2 35 | (LGPLv2), all as published by the Free Software Foundation. 36 | 37 | 'Defensive Action' means a legal proceeding or claim that We bring 38 | against you in response to a prior proceeding or claim initiated by 39 | you or your affiliate. 40 | 41 | 'We' means each contributor to this repository as of the date of 42 | inclusion of this file, including subsidiaries of a corporate 43 | contributor. 44 | 45 | This work is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 46 | 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). 47 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Company/GPL Cooperation Commitment-Company-Template.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | 2 | #### The following text may be used as a template by your company to support the GPL Cooperation Commitment: 3 | 4 | Our Commitment 5 | 6 | Before filing or continuing to prosecute any legal proceeding or claim (other than a Defensive Action) arising from termination of a Covered License, [YOUR COMPANY] commits to extend to the person or entity (“you”) accused of violating the Covered License the following provisions regarding cure and reinstatement, taken from GPL version 3. As used here, the term ‘this License’ refers to the specific Covered License being enforced. 7 | 8 | However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation. 9 | 10 | Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your receipt of the notice. 11 | 12 | [YOUR COMPANY] intends this Commitment to be irrevocable, and binding and enforceable against [YOUR COMPANY] and assignees of or successors to [YOUR COMPANY]’s copyrights. 13 | 14 | [YOUR COMPANY] may modify this Commitment by publishing a new edition on this page or a successor location. 15 | 16 | Definitions 17 | 18 | ‘Covered License’ means the GNU General Public License, version 2 (GPLv2), the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 (LGPLv2.1), or the GNU Library General Public License, version 2 (LGPLv2), all as published by the Free Software Foundation. 19 | 20 | ‘Defensive Action’ means a legal proceeding or claim that [YOUR COMPANY] brings against you in response to a prior proceeding or claim initiated by you or your affiliate. 21 | 22 | ‘[YOUR COMPANY]’ means [YOUR COMPANY] and its subsidiaries. 23 | 24 | This work is available under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International license. 25 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Company/README-COMPANY.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # GPL Cooperation Commitment - Company 2 | 3 | ## Company adoption of the GPL Cooperation Commitment 4 | 5 | 1. **No Agreement.** There are no agreements or other documents to sign. 6 | 7 | 2. **No Fees.** There are no fees or payments required to participate. 8 | 9 | 3. **Post the Commitment.** 10 | - Copy the GPL Cooperation Commitment verbatim from the file “GPL Cooperation Commitment-Company-Template.md”. You can open this file with this [link](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Company/GPL%20Cooperation%20Commitment-Company-Template.md) 11 | - Search and replace “YOUR COMPANY” with your company name. 12 | - Post the Commitment on your company’s web page or other publicly facing document(s) (e.g., it could be on your company’s Github home page). 13 | - Here are some examples:
14 | * [Red Hat’s Commitment](https://www.redhat.com/en/about/gplv3-enforcement-statement) 15 | * [Google’s Commitment](https://opensource.google.com/gpl-enforcement/) 16 | 17 | 4. **Publicize your Commitment.** 18 | - Use social media, press releases, or other methods to tell your customers and the broader open source community of the positive steps you made to make open source even safer. Here are some examples:
19 | * [Red Hat’s blog](https://www.redhat.com/en/blog/fostering-greater-open-source-development)
20 | * [HPE’s blog](https://news.hpe.com/hpe-joins-other-community-leaders-in-protecting-developers-and-enabling-innovation/)
21 | - Add your company name to the Company-List.md file in this repository and add a link to your GPL Cooperation Commitment text. You do this by initiating a pull request to the Company-List.md file in this repository. 22 | 23 | Alternatively, you may click here which will automatically generate an email requesting the administrator to add your company to commitment. 24 | 25 | - Red Hat plans to issue additional press releases announcing the names of the new companies that have agreed to adopt the GPL Cooperation Commitment. Details: 26 | * Red Hat will provide you with a draft of the press release for your internal review.
27 | * The press release would include your Company’s name.
28 | * We would encourage you to provide a quote for inclusion in the press release.
29 | * For example, here are links to the [March 2018](https://www.redhat.com/en/about/press-releases/momentum-builds-new-wave-technology-industry-leaders-join-efforts-increase-predictability-open-source-licensing) and [July 2018](https://www.redhat.com/en/about/press-releases/movement-builds-diverse-group-14-additional-leaders-seek-greater-predictability-open-source-licensing) press releases. 30 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /Individual/README-INDIVIDUAL.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # GPL Cooperation Commitment - Individual 2 | 3 | If you are an individual interested in supporting this initiative in your individual capacity, you may do so by providing your name to be publicly listed as supporting this initiative and personally adopting the GPLv3 cure provisions as to your copyright in code licensed under GPLv2, LGPLv2.1 and LGPLv2. 4 | 5 | To add your name, create a pull request to this file and insert your name at the bottom of this file thereby acknowledging your agreement to the "GPL v2 Cooperation Commitment - For Individuals" From there, the administrator of this repository will approve and merge the pull requests on a periodic basis*. 6 | 7 | Alternatively, you may click here which will automatically generate an email requesting the administrator to add your name to commitment. 8 | 9 | 10 | [Tell the world that you signed the GPL Cooperation Commitment via Twitter!](http://twitter.com/home?status=I%20signed%20the%20GPL%20Cooperation%20Comitment%20to%20support%20GPL%20enforcement%20consistent%20with%20collaborative%20innovation%20that%20occurs%20in%20open%20source%20communities.%20Please%20join%20https%3A%2Fgplcc.github.io%2Fgplcc%20%23GPLCC%20%23GPL%20%23opensource) 11 | 12 | ### GPL Cooperation Commitment - For Individuals 13 | 14 | Solely for any software for which I personally own copyright that is licensed under a Covered License, before filing or continuing to prosecute any legal proceeding or claim (other than a Defensive Action) arising from termination of a Covered License, I commit to extend to the person or entity (“you”) accused of violating the Covered License the following provisions regarding cure and reinstatement, taken from GPL version 3. As used here, the term ‘this License’ refers to the specific Covered License being enforced. 15 | 16 | “However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation. 17 | 18 | Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your receipt of the notice.” 19 | 20 | I intend this Commitment to be irrevocable, and binding and enforceable against me and assignees of or successors to my copyrights. 21 | 22 | 23 | Definitions: 24 | 25 | ‘Covered License’ means the GNU General Public License, version 2 (GPLv2), the GNU Lesser General Public License, version 2.1 (LGPLv2.1), or the GNU Library General Public License, version 2 (LGPLv2), all as published by the Free Software Foundation. 26 | 27 | ‘Defensive Action’ means a legal proceeding or claim that I bring against you in response to a prior proceeding or claim initiated by you or your affiliate. 28 | 29 | #### THE ABOVE COMMITMENT IS AGREED TO BY THE FOLLOWING INDIVIDUALS 30 | 31 | Michael K. Dolan Jr. (https://github.com/mkdolan) 32 | 33 | Joseph D. Schram 34 | 35 | Lon Hohberger 36 | 37 | Martin Koller 38 | 39 | Clayton Coleman 40 | 41 | Scott Marlow (https://github.com/scottmarlow) 42 | 43 | Naveen Malik 44 | 45 | Winston Lloyd 46 | 47 | Jiří Konečný 48 | 49 | Máirín Duffy 50 | 51 | Adam B Kaplan 52 | 53 | Max Rydahl Andersen 54 | 55 | Francois Dechery 56 | 57 | Narayanan Raghavan 58 | 59 | Robbie Harwood (https://github.com/frozencemetery) 60 | 61 | Valentin Born (born2webdesign) 62 | 63 | [Ryan Jarvinen](http://github.com/ryanj) 64 | 65 | [Christoph Görn](http://b4mad.net/goern) 66 | 67 | David Mair 68 | 69 | Martin Kolle 70 | 71 | Julen Landa Alustizs 72 | 73 | Simon Phipps 74 | 75 | Jason Hibbets 76 | 77 | Erika Nelson 78 | 79 | [Zbigniew Jędrzejewski-Szmek](https://github.com/keszybz) 80 | 81 | [Philip Wyett](https://kathenas.org) 82 | 83 | Tim Burke 84 | 85 | Zachary Snyder 86 | 87 | [Thomas Buchinger](https://github.com/ThomasBuchinger) 88 | 89 | Robert Krawitz 90 | 91 | Niels de Vos 92 | 93 | [Brenton Leanhardt](https://github.com/brenton) 94 | 95 | [Michael Christenson](https://github.com/m3talsmith) 96 | 97 | Mike Bonnet 98 | 99 | Maxim Burgerhout 100 | 101 | [Goutham Pacha Ravi](https://github.com/gouthampacha) 102 | 103 | [Daniel Oh](https://github.com/danieloh30) 104 | 105 | Brian Stansberry 106 | 107 | [Zhao Wei](https://github.com/billutada) 108 | 109 | [James Cole](https://github.com/jamcole) 110 | 111 | [David O'Brien](https://github.com/daobrien) 112 | 113 | Brent Dunn 114 | 115 | [Cédric Jeanneret](https://github.com/cjeanner) 116 | 117 | Xavi Hernandez 118 | 119 | [Tomáš Smetana](https://github.com/tsmetana) 120 | 121 | [Javier Ramirez](https://github.com/javilinux) 122 | 123 | Laurent Vivier 124 | 125 | Radek Vokál 126 | 127 | Emmanuel Bernard 128 | 129 | [Sarah Masud](https://github.com/sara-02) 130 | 131 | [Solly Ross](https://github.com/directxman12) 132 | 133 | Carlos Maiolino 134 | 135 | Pritesh Kasliwal 136 | 137 | Seth Kenlon 138 | 139 | Sebastian Dunne 140 | 141 | [Alberto Gutierrez](https://github.com/aljesusg) 142 | 143 | Marcelo Ricardo Leitner 144 | 145 | [Paul Richardson](http://github.com/phantomjinx) 146 | 147 | Jason Joyce 148 | 149 | Sri Sankaran 150 | 151 | Pavol Loffay 152 | 153 | [Sandro Bonazzola](https://github.com/sandrobonazzola) 154 | 155 | Harish Pillay 156 | 157 | Oscar Carvajal 158 | 159 | [Michael McCune](https://github.com/elmiko) 160 | 161 | [Beni Paskin-Cherniavsky](https://github.com/cben) 162 | 163 | [Greg Sheremeta](https://github.com/gregsheremeta) 164 | 165 | Patrick Uiterwijk 166 | 167 | [Paul W. Frields](https://github.com/stickster) 168 | 169 | Benjamin Tissoires 170 | 171 | Dave Stanley 172 | 173 | Stefan van Oirschot 174 | 175 | [Rebecca Fernandez](https://github.com/ruhbehka) 176 | 177 | [Michel Peterson](https://github.com/mpeterson) 178 | 179 | Masahiro Matsuya 180 | 181 | [Patrick Easters](https://github.com/patrickeasters/) 182 | 183 | Saravanakumar Arumugam 184 | 185 | Tiago Moreira Vieira 186 | 187 | Javier Peña 188 | 189 | [Petr Viktorin](https://github.com/encukou) 190 | 191 | [Michael Vorburger.ch](https://github.com/vorburger) 192 | 193 | Mariano Fernandez 194 | 195 | Alan Conway 196 | 197 | [Patrick Regan](https://github.com/rubbsdecvik) 198 | 199 | [Alejandro Martinez Ruiz](https://github.com/unleashed) 200 | 201 | [Shawn Wells](https://github.com/shawndwells) 202 | 203 | Gabriel Szász 204 | 205 | Justin M. Forbes 206 | 207 | Martin André 208 | 209 | [Michal Sekletár](https://github.com/msekletar) 210 | 211 | Kelly Baugh 212 | 213 | Christa Martin 214 | 215 | [Simon J. Hernandez](https://github.com/s-mon) 216 | 217 | Eric Blake 218 | 219 | Margaret Walters 220 | 221 | [Ajay Chenampara](https://termlen0.github.io) 222 | 223 | [Sally O'Malley](https://github.com/sallyom) 224 | 225 | [Suresh Thiru](https://github.com/sthirugn) 226 | 227 | [Bryant Son](https://github.com/bryantson) 228 | 229 | [Vincent Danen](https://github.com/vdanen) 230 | 231 | [Freddy Rolland](https://github.com/rollandf) 232 | 233 | [Marcel Hild](https://github.com/durandom) 234 | 235 | [Scott McCarty](https://github.com/fatherlinux) 236 | 237 | [Daniel Riek](https://github.com/riekrh) 238 | 239 | [Stephen Kitt](https://github.com/skitt) 240 | 241 | [Stephen Gallagher](https://github.com/sgallagher) 242 | 243 | [Bryan Kearney](https://github.com/bkearney) 244 | 245 | [Bill Burns](https://github.com/bburns) 246 | 247 | [Mark McLoughlin](https://github.com/markmc) 248 | 249 | Dan Callaghan 250 | 251 | [Victoria Martinez de la Cruz](https://github.com/vkmc) 252 | 253 | [Radoslav Husar](https://radoslavhusar.com/) 254 | 255 | [Karsten Wade](https://github.com/quaid) 256 | 257 | [Philippe Ombredanne](http://github.com/pombredanne) 258 | 259 | [Andrew John Hughes](http://fuseyism.com) 260 | 261 | [Arsenijs Picugins](https://github.com/CRImier) 262 | 263 | [Micah Halter](http://mehalter.com) 264 | 265 | [Kory Schneider](https://github.com/koryschneider) 266 | 267 | [Rishabh Nambiar](https://github.com/rishabhnambiar) 268 | 269 | [Michael Grupp](https://github.com/MichaelGrupp) 270 | 271 | [Robert Scheck](https://github.com/robert-scheck) 272 | 273 | [Charles Marshall](https://github.com/otakuidoru) 274 | 275 | [Thiago Rafael Becker](https://github.com/trbecker) 276 | 277 | [Lucas Alvares Gomes](https://github.com/umago) 278 | 279 | [Adam Miller](https://github.com/maxamillion) 280 | 281 | [Daniel Mellado](https://github.com/danielmellado) 282 | 283 | [Kevin Greenwood](https://github.com/kgreenwood) 284 | 285 | [Will Gordon](https://github.com/wgordon17) 286 | 287 | [Matthew Ward](https://github.com/mwardRH) 288 | 289 | [Antonio Navarro](https://github.com/antonionc) 290 | 291 | [Martin Tessun](https://github.com/mtessun) 292 | 293 | [Bernard Cafarelli](https://github.com/voyageur) 294 | 295 | [Jason Baker](https://github.com/jehb) 296 | 297 | [Lokesh Mandvekar](https://github.com/lsm5) 298 | 299 | Diane Ferguson 300 | 301 | Rene LeBlanc 302 | 303 | [Matthew Davis](https://github.com/matthewdavis) 304 | 305 | [Jen Albertson](https://github.com/jlalbertson) 306 | 307 | [William Caban](https://github.com/williamcaban) 308 | 309 | [Nicole Baratta](https://github.com/ncbaratta) 310 | 311 | [Roman Mohr](https://github.com/rmohr) 312 | 313 | [Alexander Jacocks](https://github.com/ajacocks) 314 | 315 | [Shayne Czyzewski](https://github.com/shayneski) 316 | 317 | [Jeff Needle](https://people.redhat.com/jneedle) 318 | 319 | [Dan Walsh](https://github.com/rhatdan) 320 | 321 | [Bill Nottingham](https://github.com/wenottingham/) 322 | 323 | [Jona Azizaj](https://github.com/jonatoni) 324 | 325 | Sandra Falzarano 326 | 327 | Karen Noel 328 | 329 | Ian Checkley 330 | 331 | [Sergio Lopez](https://github.com/slp) 332 | 333 | Jason E. Rist 334 | 335 | [Gerard Ryan](https://github.com/grdryn) 336 | 337 | [Frédéric Giloux](https://github.com/fgiloux) 338 | 339 | Sylvia Reyes 340 | 341 | Karen Noel 342 | 343 | Yuri Lewash 344 | 345 | Sheikh Mohammad Sajid 346 | 347 | Roland Boemer 348 | 349 | [Athanasios Kostopoulos](https://github.com/thanasisk) 350 | 351 | [Carol Chen](https://github.com/cybette) 352 | 353 | Garry Vaughn 354 | 355 | John Velayudhan 356 | 357 | [Matija Šuklje](http://matija.suklje.name) 358 | 359 | Margo Doty 360 | 361 | Pere Benavent 362 | 363 | [Suman Kumar](https://github.com/suman-kr) 364 | 365 | [Richard Fontana](https://github.com/richardfontana) 366 | 367 | Pushpender Singh 368 | 369 | Paul Sutton 370 | 371 | Abu Sakib 372 | 373 | Akshay R. Kapadia 374 | 375 | [Giuseppe Scrivano](https://github.com/giuseppe) 376 | 377 | [Marek Čermák](https://github.com/CermakM) 378 | 379 | Thomas Claesson 380 | 381 | [Gregory Zuckerman](https://github.com/gzuckerman) 382 | 383 | Ozgur Kara 384 | 385 | Richard King 386 | 387 | Ricardo Grant 388 | 389 | [Jakub Dubec](https://github.com/Sibyx) 390 | 391 | [Francesco Pantano](https://github.com/fmount) 392 | 393 | Daniel Dominguez 394 | 395 | Amjad Yaseen 396 | 397 | Khaled Algharieb 398 | 399 | [Lee Hayward](https://thecloud.org.uk) 400 | 401 | [Betsy Gamrat](https://github.com/bgamrat) 402 | 403 | [Bernhard "Bero" Rosenkränzer](https://github.com/berolinux) 404 | 405 | Elizabeth Rowland 406 | 407 | Lucas Dagostino 408 | 409 | [Zdenek Veleba](https://zveleba.cz/) 410 | 411 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /README.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # Join the GPL Cooperation Commitment 2 | 3 | Join with leading companies, developers, and other leaders in the open source community who have all committed to provide GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x licensees a fair chance to correct violations before their licenses are terminated. 4 | 5 | Our goal is to reduce opportunities for abusive enforcement tactics and, more broadly, to promote greater predictability in the enforcement of GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x licenses. Through this initiative, we hope ultimately to increase participation in the use and development of open source software by helping to ensure that enforcement, when it takes place, is fair and predictable. 6 | 7 | # What is the GPL Cooperation Commitment 8 | 9 | The GPL Cooperation Commitment is a statement by GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x copyright holders and other supporters that gives licensees a fair chance to correct violations before their licenses are terminated. 10 | 11 | The “automatic termination” feature of GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x does not provide an express “cure” period in the event of a violation. This means that a single act of inadvertent non-compliance could give rise to an infringement claim, with no obligation to provide notice prior to taking legal action. When GPLv3 was introduced in 2007, one of the key improvements was the inclusion of a cure period. 12 | 13 | In order to address this imbalance in GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x license enforcement, Red Hat, IBM, Google, and Facebook announced in November 2017 a commitment to apply the GPLv3 cure provisions for their GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x licensed software. Since that time, over 20 companies have announced that they too were making the commitment ([see current list](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Company/Company-List.md)). The cure approach has support across the open source community, including individual developers and users. It is the same approach that was adopted in 2017 by over a hundred Linux kernel developers, and is also among the Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement promulgated by the Software Freedom Conservancy. Red Hat has adopted the cure approach for all new Red Hat-initiated open source projects that opt to use GPLv2 or LGPLv2.1. Similarly, a growing number of existing Red Hat-led GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x projects are adopting the cure commitment for new contributions. Finally, there is also an initiative to enable individual developers to add their names to the cure approach. 14 | 15 | --- 16 | 17 | ## The open source community should focus on building great things and encouraging others to participate. 18 | 19 | --- 20 | 21 | **Let’s be reasonable. People make mistakes.** Supporters of this commitment believe it is important to provide incentives to organizations who seek to―and actually do―comply and fix their mistakes. We are promoting this initiative so that organizations can have reasonable assurances that they can use GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x-licensed code even if there is an inadvertent and temporary noncompliance with the license due to ambiguity, misunderstanding or otherwise (as long as they make the effort to fix their non-compliance). 22 | 23 | **Why does this matter?** It promotes a balanced approach to license enforcement. Greater predictability in open source licensing will help to increase participation and grow the open source ecosystem. Innovation takes a village, and fairness and predictability are keys to growing that village. 24 | 25 | **What is our goal?** Our goal is to get as many GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x copyright holders as possible to make this commitment. Sign today to become an early adopter. 26 | 27 | --- 28 | 29 | ## Make this commitment and tell the world that: 30 | * You support open source community members whose intent is to foster collaboration and participation. 31 | * You expect licensees to comply with the GPL and LGPL when redistributing code. 32 | * You assume positive intent and understand that well-meaning people sometimes make mistakes. 33 | * You have committed to giving licensees a fair chance to correct license violations. 34 | 35 | ## Ready to sign the commitment? 36 | 37 | **Companies and other Organizations.** If you are a company or other organization, [follow these instructions.](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Company/README-COMPANY.md) There is no agreement to sign and it costs nothing. 38 | 39 | **Individuals.** [Visit this page](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Individual/README-INDIVIDUAL.md), clone the repo, add your name to the bottom of the commitment text, and submit a pull request. Full instructions are provided on the page. 40 | 41 | Alternatively, you may click here which will automatically generate an email requesting the administrator to add your name to commitment. 42 | 43 | It’s easy! 44 | 45 | [Tell the world that you signed the GPL Cooperation Commitment via Twitter!](http://twitter.com/home?status=I%20signed%20the%20GPL%20Cooperation%20Commitment%20to%20support%20GPL%20enforcement%20consistent%20with%20collaborative%20innovation%20that%20occurs%20in%20open%20source%20communities.%20Please%20join%20https%3A%2Fgplcc.github.io%2Fgplcc%20%23GPLCC%20%23GPL%20%23opensource) 46 | 47 | 48 | _This commitment is for copyright holders in an individual capacity (i.e. not on behalf of the company for whom you may be working)._ 49 | 50 | --- 51 | 52 | > _“As President of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), I’m pleased to sign my name to the GPL Cooperation Commitment. This recent initiative by Red Hat helps to set a precedent for cooperation in GPL license enforcement―it’s a way to tell the open source community that good intentions matter. I encourage other members of the community to support this initiative by adding your name. Let’s celebrate the 20th anniversary of Open Source by spreading this everywhere!”_ -Simon Phipps 53 | 54 | --- 55 | 56 | **Projects.** 57 | 58 | A project may wish to adopt the GPL Cooperation Commitment for all contributions going forward. Simply put this [file](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Project/COMMITMENT) in the same directory in your source repository as the GPLv2, LGPLv2 or LGPLv2.1 license file. 59 | 60 | # FAQs 61 | 62 | ### Is there something wrong with GPLv2 that the GPL Cooperation Commitment is seeking to fix? 63 | 64 | No. GPLv2 continues to be a very popular and important open source license. It was written to ensure compliant distribution of copyleft-licensed software. The GPL Cooperation Commitment seeks to provide additional predictability in how the license is enforced, recognizing that occasional, minor and easily-fixed forms of noncompliance may occur due to ambiguity or misunderstandings. 65 | 66 | ### How does the GPL Cooperation Commitment work? 67 | 68 | One of the features that was introduced in GPLv3 is a “cure” period for license noncompliance, which creates incentives for distributors of GPLv3-licensed code to discover and fix compliance problems. With the GPLv3 cure period, a licensee is afforded a period of time (the cure period) to correct errors in compliance before the license is effectively terminated. Projects that continue to use GPLv2 would benefit from adoption of the GPLv3 approach to correcting compliance errors. It is often impractical for existing GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x-licensed projects to upgrade to the later versions, whether because it would be inconsistent with upstream license obligations or contrary to the general preferences and expectations of participants. 69 | A copyright holder who signs the GPL Cooperation Commitment is stating that they are applying the cure and reinstatement language of GPLv3 to copyrighted code that is licensed under GPLv2, LGPLv2.1 and LGPLv2. 70 | 71 | ### Does the GPL Cooperation Commitment itself violate the GPL? 72 | 73 | No. Signing the GPL Cooperation Commitment, whether as a company, individual developer or project, does not impose a “further restriction” on the user’s rights relative to GPLv2. Rather, it is akin to well-known substantive GPLv2 exceptions, like the Classpath Exception, or what GPLv3 calls an “additional permission”. In particular, a given project may legitimately have a subset of its GPL copyrights covered by the Commitment, since the Commitment is an additional grant of permission; this is analogous to a GPL-licensed codebase containing portions that are licensed under a more permissive GPL-compatible license like the MIT license. 74 | 75 | Note also that the project version of the GPL Cooperation Commitment applies only to contributions made to the project after adoption of the Commitment by the project; it does not apply to past contributions. 76 | 77 | ### As the steward of the GPL, has the Free Software Foundation expressed any opinion about the GPL Cooperation Commitment? 78 | 79 | The Free Software Foundation supports the approach underlying the GPL Cooperation Commitment and has welcomed its adoption by Red Hat and other companies. In September 2015, the Free Software Foundation joined the Software Freedom Conservancy in promulgating the Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement, which call for applying the GPLv3 termination policy to GPLv2 enforcement. Following the adoption of the GPL Cooperation Commitment by Red Hat, Facebook, Google and IBM, the Free Software Foundation publicly endorsed their approach: 80 | 81 | >_Now, in a positive step forward, a group of companies led by Red Hat has announced a commitment in effect adopting an important part of the Principles: They will use the GPLv3's more refined approach to compliance and termination when dealing with violations on their GPLv2-licensed works.
. . . . .
The announcement of the Common Cure Rights Commitment \[as the GPL Cooperation Commitment was referred to at the time] is welcome news for the free software movement, and we look forward to more organizations either fully adopting the Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement or making similar commitments in the same spirit. These steps help to strengthen copyleft and therefore the long-term protection of user freedom._
82 | 83 | ### Why should I sign the formal commitment on GitHub as an individual? Can’t I just decide privately that I will provide the GPLv3 cure provisions to GPLv2 violations? 84 | 85 | Signing the commitment is a way to demonstrate your commitment and publicly communicate to others in the free and open source community that you have adopted the cure provisions. Also by adding your name to this commitment, you are providing more awareness and support for the initiative. 86 | 87 | ### What are the origins of the GPL Cooperation Commitment? 88 | 89 | Red Hat initiated and is promoting the GPL Cooperation Commitment because Red Hat believes it will lead to more predictability in enforcement and, in turn, greater participation in the development and use of free and open source software. Red Hat’s intention is to let the world know that various companies and individuals support this initiative and have signed on to the GPL Cooperation Commitment. 90 | 91 | Red Hat, IBM, Google, Facebook, CA Technologies, Cisco, HPE, Microsoft, SAP, SUSE, and many Linux kernel developers have made this or a similar commitment. Check out the list of [individuals](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Individual/README-INDIVIDUAL.md) and [companies](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Company/Company-List.md) who have joined this particular initiative. 92 | 93 | The roots of the GPL Cooperation Commitment lie in the pioneering work of the Free Software Foundation and Software Freedom Law Center on GPLv3. The Free Software Foundation and Software Freedom Conservancy later embodied the concept in their [Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement](https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/principles.html). Later, in October 2017, a large number of individual Linux kernel developers adopted the approach in their [Linux Kernel Enforcement Statement](https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/process/kernel-enforcement-statement.rst). 94 | 95 | ### What if I am a company or an individual who doesn’t own any copyrights in GPLv2, LGPLv2, or LGPLv2.1 code (for example, I only work on permissive-licensed projects, or my employer owns all the copyrights in my work)? 96 | 97 | We encourage you to add your name to this commitment. The commitment would apply to future GPLv2, LGPLv2 and LGPLv2.1 code to which you do own the copyright and that you decide to distribute at a future time. In addition, you would be helping to document a more collaborative norm in the community and demonstrating your support for a more cooperative and predictable approach to license enforcement. 98 | 99 | ### Who can I contact if I have questions? 100 | 101 | If you have any further questions, please send an email to gplcc@redhat.com 102 | 103 | --- 104 | 105 | ## Important privacy Information 106 | 107 | This page/repository is managed by [Red Hat, Inc.](https://www.redhat.com/en) 108 | 109 | 110 | If you are an individual, we suggest that you only provide your name and no other identifying information about yourself. The decision is yours of course but you should know that if you provide more information such as your email, phone number, or address the general public will have access to that information. Red Hat has no intention to contact you using information you are providing to this repository on GitHub in connection with the GPL Cooperation Commitment initiative but we cannot promise that other individuals or companies will not attempt to contact you. That is why we suggest just providing your name. Also be aware of GitHub’s applicable Terms of Service and Privacy policies. Note that this repository and content may be moved to a different location and/or managed by a different entity or person in the future. 111 | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- /docs/index.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | --- 2 | layout: default 3 | --- 4 | 5 | # Join the GPL Cooperation Commitment 6 | 7 | Join with leading companies, developers, and other leaders in the open source community who have all committed to provide GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x licensees a fair chance to correct violations before their licenses are terminated. 8 | 9 | Our goal is to reduce opportunities for abusive enforcement tactics and, more broadly, to promote greater predictability in the enforcement of GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x licenses. Through this initiative, we hope ultimately to increase participation in the use and development of open source software by helping to ensure that enforcement, when it takes place, is fair and predictable. 10 | 11 | # What is the GPL Cooperation Commitment 12 | 13 | The GPL Cooperation Commitment is a statement by GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x copyright holders and other supporters that gives licensees a fair chance to correct violations before their licenses are terminated. 14 | 15 | The “automatic termination” feature of GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x does not provide an express “cure” period in the event of a violation. This means that a single act of inadvertent non-compliance could give rise to an infringement claim, with no obligation to provide notice prior to taking legal action. When GPLv3 was introduced in 2007, one of the key improvements was the inclusion of a cure period. 16 | 17 | In order to address this imbalance in GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x license enforcement, Red Hat, IBM, Google, and Facebook announced in November 2017 a commitment to apply the GPLv3 cure provisions for their GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x licensed software. Since that time, over 20 companies have announced that they too were making the commitment ([see current list](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Company/Company-List.md)). The cure approach has support across the open source community, including individual developers and users. It is the same approach that was adopted in 2017 by over a hundred Linux kernel developers, and is also among the Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement promulgated by the Software Freedom Conservancy. Red Hat has adopted the cure approach for all new Red Hat-initiated open source projects that opt to use GPLv2 or LGPLv2.1. Similarly, a growing number of existing Red Hat-led GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x projects are adopting the cure commitment for new contributions. Finally, there is also an initiative to enable individual developers to add their names to the cure approach. 18 | 19 | --- 20 | 21 | ## The open source community should focus on building great things and encouraging others to participate. 22 | 23 | --- 24 | 25 | **Let’s be reasonable. People make mistakes.** Supporters of this commitment believe it is important to provide incentives to organizations who seek to―and actually do―comply and fix their mistakes. We are promoting this initiative so that organizations can have reasonable assurances that they can use GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x-licensed code even if there is an inadvertent and temporary noncompliance with the license due to ambiguity, misunderstanding or otherwise (as long as they make the effort to fix their non-compliance). 26 | 27 | **Why does this matter?** It promotes a balanced approach to license enforcement. Greater predictability in open source licensing will help to increase participation and grow the open source ecosystem. Innovation takes a village, and fairness and predictability are keys to growing that village. 28 | 29 | **What is our goal?** Our goal is to get as many GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x copyright holders as possible to make this commitment. Sign today to become an early adopter. 30 | 31 | --- 32 | 33 | ## Make this commitment and tell the world that: 34 | * You support open source community members whose intent is to foster collaboration and participation. 35 | * You expect licensees to comply with the GPL and LGPL when redistributing code. 36 | * You assume positive intent and understand that well-meaning people sometimes make mistakes. 37 | * You have committed to giving licensees a fair chance to correct license violations. 38 | 39 | ## Ready to sign the commitment? 40 | 41 | **Companies and other Organizations.** If you are a company or other organization, [follow these instructions.](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Company/README-COMPANY.md) There is no agreement to sign and it costs nothing. 42 | 43 | **Individuals.** [Visit this page](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Individual/README-INDIVIDUAL.md), clone the repo, add your name to the bottom of the commitment text, and submit a pull request. Full instructions are provided on the page. 44 | 45 | Alternatively, you may click here which will automatically generate an email requesting the administrator to add your name to commitment. 46 | 47 | It’s easy! 48 | 49 | [Tell the world that you signed the GPL Cooperation Commitment via Twitter!](http://twitter.com/home?status=I%20signed%20the%20GPL%20Cooperation%20Commitment%20to%20support%20GPL%20enforcement%20consistent%20with%20collaborative%20innovation%20that%20occurs%20in%20open%20source%20communities.%20Please%20join%20https%3A%2Fgplcc.github.io%2Fgplcc%20%23GPLCC%20%23GPL%20%23opensource) 50 | 51 | 52 | _This commitment is for copyright holders in an individual capacity (i.e. not on behalf of the company for whom you may be working)._ 53 | 54 | --- 55 | 56 | > _“As President of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), I’m pleased to sign my name to the GPL Cooperation Commitment. This recent initiative by Red Hat helps to set a precedent for cooperation in GPL license enforcement―it’s a way to tell the open source community that good intentions matter. I encourage other members of the community to support this initiative by adding your name. Let’s celebrate the 20th anniversary of Open Source by spreading this everywhere!”_ -Simon Phipps 57 | 58 | --- 59 | 60 | **Projects.** 61 | 62 | A project may wish to adopt the GPL Cooperation Commitment for all contributions going forward. Simply put this [file](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Project/COMMITMENT) in the same directory in your source repository as the GPLv2, LGPLv2 or LGPLv2.1 license file. 63 | 64 | # FAQs 65 | 66 | ### Is there something wrong with GPLv2 that the GPL Cooperation Commitment is seeking to fix? 67 | 68 | No. GPLv2 continues to be a very popular and important open source license. It was written to ensure compliant distribution of copyleft-licensed software. The GPL Cooperation Commitment seeks to provide additional predictability in how the license is enforced, recognizing that occasional, minor and easily-fixed forms of noncompliance may occur due to ambiguity or misunderstandings. 69 | 70 | ### How does the GPL Cooperation Commitment work? 71 | 72 | One of the features that was introduced in GPLv3 is a “cure” period for license noncompliance, which creates incentives for distributors of GPLv3-licensed code to discover and fix compliance problems. With the GPLv3 cure period, a licensee is afforded a period of time (the cure period) to correct errors in compliance before the license is effectively terminated. Projects that continue to use GPLv2 would benefit from adoption of the GPLv3 approach to correcting compliance errors. It is often impractical for existing GPLv2 and LGPLv2.x-licensed projects to upgrade to the later versions, whether because it would be inconsistent with upstream license obligations or contrary to the general preferences and expectations of participants. 73 | A copyright holder who signs the GPL Cooperation Commitment is stating that they are applying the cure and reinstatement language of GPLv3 to copyrighted code that is licensed under GPLv2, LGPLv2.1 and LGPLv2. 74 | 75 | ### Does the GPL Cooperation Commitment itself violate the GPL? 76 | 77 | No. Signing the GPL Cooperation Commitment, whether as a company, individual developer or project, does not impose a “further restriction” on the user’s rights relative to GPLv2. Rather, it is akin to well-known substantive GPLv2 exceptions, like the Classpath Exception, or what GPLv3 calls an “additional permission”. In particular, a given project may legitimately have a subset of its GPL copyrights covered by the Commitment, since the Commitment is an additional grant of permission; this is analogous to a GPL-licensed codebase containing portions that are licensed under a more permissive GPL-compatible license like the MIT license. 78 | 79 | Note also that the project version of the GPL Cooperation Commitment applies only to contributions made to the project after adoption of the Commitment by the project; it does not apply to past contributions. 80 | 81 | ### As the steward of the GPL, has the Free Software Foundation expressed any opinion about the GPL Cooperation Commitment? 82 | 83 | The Free Software Foundation supports the approach underlying the GPL Cooperation Commitment and has welcomed its adoption by Red Hat and other companies. In September 2015, the Free Software Foundation joined the Software Freedom Conservancy in promulgating the Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement, which call for applying the GPLv3 termination policy to GPLv2 enforcement. Following the adoption of the GPL Cooperation Commitment by Red Hat, Facebook, Google and IBM, the Free Software Foundation publicly endorsed their approach: 84 | 85 | >_Now, in a positive step forward, a group of companies led by Red Hat has announced a commitment in effect adopting an important part of the Principles: They will use the GPLv3's more refined approach to compliance and termination when dealing with violations on their GPLv2-licensed works.
. . . . .
The announcement of the Common Cure Rights Commitment \[as the GPL Cooperation Commitment was referred to at the time] is welcome news for the free software movement, and we look forward to more organizations either fully adopting the Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement or making similar commitments in the same spirit. These steps help to strengthen copyleft and therefore the long-term protection of user freedom._
86 | 87 | ### Why should I sign the formal commitment on GitHub as an individual? Can’t I just decide privately that I will provide the GPLv3 cure provisions to GPLv2 violations? 88 | 89 | Signing the commitment is a way to demonstrate your commitment and publicly communicate to others in the free and open source community that you have adopted the cure provisions. Also by adding your name to this commitment, you are providing more awareness and support for the initiative. 90 | 91 | ### What are the origins of the GPL Cooperation Commitment? 92 | 93 | Red Hat initiated and is promoting the GPL Cooperation Commitment because Red Hat believes it will lead to more predictability in enforcement and, in turn, greater participation in the development and use of free and open source software. Red Hat’s intention is to let the world know that various companies and individuals support this initiative and have signed on to the GPL Cooperation Commitment. 94 | 95 | Red Hat, IBM, Google, Facebook, CA Technologies, Cisco, HPE, Microsoft, SAP, SUSE, and many Linux kernel developers have made this or a similar commitment. Check out the list of [individuals](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Individual/README-INDIVIDUAL.md) and [companies](https://github.com/gplcc/gplcc/blob/master/Company/Company-List.md) who have joined this particular initiative. 96 | 97 | The roots of the GPL Cooperation Commitment lie in the pioneering work of the Free Software Foundation and Software Freedom Law Center on GPLv3. The Free Software Foundation and Software Freedom Conservancy later embodied the concept in their [Principles of Community-Oriented GPL Enforcement](https://sfconservancy.org/copyleft-compliance/principles.html). Later, in October 2017, a large number of individual Linux kernel developers adopted the approach in their [Linux Kernel Enforcement Statement](https://git.kernel.org/pub/scm/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/Documentation/process/kernel-enforcement-statement.rst). 98 | 99 | ### What if I am a company or an individual who doesn’t own any copyrights in GPLv2, LGPLv2, or LGPLv2.1 code (for example, I only work on permissive-licensed projects, or my employer owns all the copyrights in my work)? 100 | 101 | We encourage you to add your name to this commitment. The commitment would apply to future GPLv2, LGPLv2 and LGPLv2.1 code to which you do own the copyright and that you decide to distribute at a future time. In addition, you would be helping to document a more collaborative norm in the community and demonstrating your support for a more cooperative and predictable approach to license enforcement. 102 | 103 | ### Who can I contact if I have questions? 104 | 105 | If you have any further questions, please send an email to gplcc@redhat.com 106 | 107 | --- 108 | 109 | ## Important privacy Information 110 | 111 | This page/repository is managed by [Red Hat, Inc.](https://www.redhat.com/en) 112 | 113 | 114 | If you are an individual, we suggest that you only provide your name and no other identifying information about yourself. The decision is yours of course but you should know that if you provide more information such as your email, phone number, or address the general public will have access to that information. Red Hat has no intention to contact you using information you are providing to this repository on GitHub in connection with the GPL Cooperation Commitment initiative but we cannot promise that other individuals or companies will not attempt to contact you. That is why we suggest just providing your name. Also be aware of GitHub’s applicable Terms of Service and Privacy policies. Note that this repository and content may be moved to a different location and/or managed by a different entity or person in the future. 115 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------