Re: derived work

[Martin Dickopp]

braccobaldo@hotmail.com (Andres Baravalle) writes:

> I'm writing a very small applet for gnome that is derived from a Red
> Hat applet released under GPL version 2.
>
> What I have done is reading their code and writing a new application
> that uses some lines of their code *and* a library (eggtrayicon) that
> they are using. My application is not a fork of their; it is just a
> small applet to show today's comics.
>
> How should I state (in the copyright notice) that my work is derived
> from their? is derived the correct technical world?
>
> I have prepared this copyright notice, but I'm not sure if it is
> correct:
>
> # Copyright (C) 2004 Andres Baravalle
> # This file is part of phpGrabComics.
> # phpGrabComics is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
> # it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
> # the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
> # (at your option) any later version.
>  
> # phpGrabComics is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
> # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
> # MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
> # GNU General Public License for more details.
>  
> # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
> # along with phpGrabComics; if not, write to the Free Software
> # Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
>  
> # This file is based on the Red Hat Network Panel Applet
> # Copyright 1999-2002 Red Hat, Inc
> # distributed under GPL version 2.

Is the "Red Hat Network Panel Applet" distributed under the "GPL version
2" or under the "GPL version 2 or any later version"?  If the former is
the case, as your text seems to imply, you cannot use the "later version"
option in the license of the combined work.

Otherwise, your text is fine.  Another option is to just list the
copyright holders at the top:

| Copyright (C) 2004 Andres Baravalle
| Copyright (C) 1999-2002 Red Hat, Inc
| This file is part of phpGrabComics.
| phpGrabComics is free software; you can redistribute it and/or [...]

(IANAL.)

Martin