[Git](http://git-scm.com/).  Currently, the project utilizes the services of

a  Git hosting website called [Gitorious](https://gitorious.org). (The

software which runs Gitorious is, itself, copylefted, too.)

Those who are comfortable with Gitorious can submit

[merge requests on copyleft.org's gitorious site](https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial/merge_requests).

See the section "Merge Request and Patch Workflow" below for more information

on the details of doing that.

However, lack of Git and/or LaTeX knowledge is *not a barrier* for

contribution to this project.  Useful contributions will be accepted by the

following means as well:

  * Patches posted to

    [the mailing list](http://lists.copyleft.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss).

  * New sections of text or simply ideas and input emailed to

    [the mailing list](http://lists.copyleft.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss).

  * Ideas and suggestions mentioned on the

    [irc channel #copyleft on freenode](irc://irc.freenode.net/#copyleft).

Please, do not worry if your patches or new sections of text are not properly

formatted as patches and/or are not formatted in LaTeX properly.  Indeed,

feel free to offer patches that break LaTeX formatting, or to just write up

your suggestion in an email.  If the content is appropriate for the Guide,

the editor-in-chief or someone else will format your contribution properly

for LaTeX.

Note: by submitting contributions via any of these means, you agree to the

"Author's Certificate of Origin" (see below).

## How Do I Figure Out What To Contribute?

If you're looking for something to fix, just grep the *.tex files for "FIXME"

and you'll find plenty.  Many of them are simple and easy to do.  Some of

them are writing, and some of them are simply formatting-related.

If you want a larger, more involved writing project, take a look at the

[TODO list in this repository](TODO.md).  That list has bigger items that

other contributors have identified as necessary.  (BTW, the project

contributors are considering various possible copylefted bug-tracking

solutions, but admittedly haven't picked a bug-tracker yet.)

There is also a [TODO list on the website](https://copyleft.org/todo/), which

are mostly related to formatting, layout and infrastructure, but if you'd

like to help there, such help is also welcome.

## Merge Request and Patch Workflow

Currently, the main location for work on this project is

[on Gitorious](https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial), and active new

development on the project happens on the

['next' branch](https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial/source/next:)

(which is

[auto-published on the copyleft.org/guide-next URL](https://copyleft.org/guide-next/)).

Here is a suggested workflow for submitting patches — first doing so

*with* the Gitorious infrastructure, second *avoiding* the Gitorious

infrastructure but still using Git, and third avoiding Git altogether.

Merge requests and/or patches against

['next' branch](https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial/source/next:) are

typically much preferred, and the workflow explanations below assume that.

However, merge requests and/or patches against

['master' branch](https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial/source/master:)

are not necessarily rejected.  In fact, if your change is a fix for typo,

spelling, grammar, formatting or anything urgent, submitting a patch against

'master' may make more sense.

To use the instructions below for proposals against the 'master' branch, just

replace 'next' everywhere below with 'master'.

### Contributing via Gitorious

First-time contributors may want to do the following four items first:

0. [Create an account on Gitorious](https://gitorious.org/users/new)

1. [Visit gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial](https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial)

    and click "Clone".

    Instead of the default, you might call your clone

    "MYNAME-copyleft-tutorial-suggestions".

2. On the command line create a *local* clone of your Clone, by typing:

        $ git clone git@gitorious.org:copyleft-org/MYNAME-copyleft-tutorial-suggestions.git copyleft-tutorial

        $ cd copyleft-tutorial

        $ git remote rename origin MYNAME-copyleft-tutorial-suggestions

    (The last part isn't strictly necessary; you just might want to name the

    upstream repository a more descriptive name, since below you'll add the

    official repository as well).

3. Now, add to your clone a copy of the "real" Conservancy policies

# Makefile for Copyleft Tutorial                      -*- GNUMakefile -*-

ifndef BOOK_BASE

BOOK_BASE=comprehensive-gpl-guide

endif

ifndef WEB_INSTALL_DIR

WEB_INSTALL_DIR = /path/to/html/install/directory

endif

BOOK_CLASS_FILE = gpl-book.cls

CSS_FILES = css/*.css

JAVASCRIPT_FILES = js/*.js

WEB_CONFIG_FILE = webhacks.cfg

HTML_OUTPUT_DIR = public_html

TEX4HT=tex4ht

T4HT=t4ht

HTLATEX=htlatex

PDFLATEX = pdflatex

LATEX = latex

BIBTEX = bibtex

FIG2DEV = fig2dev

DVIPS=dvips

all:	err $(BOOK_BASE).pdf $(BOOK_BASE).ps html

pdf:	err $(BOOK_BASE).pdf

html:	$(HTML_OUTPUT_DIR)/monolithic/$(BOOK_BASE).html $(HTML_OUTPUT_DIR)/$(BOOK_BASE).html pdf $(BOOK_BASE).ps jscssmonolitic jscss

	/bin/ln -f $(BOOK_BASE).ps $(HTML_OUTPUT_DIR)/$(BOOK_BASE).ps

	/bin/ln -f $(BOOK_BASE).pdf $(HTML_OUTPUT_DIR)/$(BOOK_BASE).pdf

.SUFFIXES: .fig .postscript .eps .pdf .pstex_t .pstex .ps .dvi .tex

.postscript.pdf:

	ps2pdf $< $@

.postscript.eps:

	ps2epsi $< $@

.dvi.ps:

	$(DVIPS) $< -o $@

.tex.dvi:

	$(LATEX) $<

.fig.pdf:

	$(FIG2DEV) -L pdf -p "portrait" -c $< > $@

.fig.pstex_t:

	$(FIG2DEV) -L pstex_t $< > $@

.fig.pstex:

	$(FIG2DEV) -L pstex $< > $@

% compliance-guide.tex                            -*- LaTeX -*-

\part{A Practical Guide to GPL Compliance}

\label{gpl-compliance-guide}

{\parindent 0in

This part is: \\

\begin{tabbing}

Copyright \= \copyright{} 2008, 2014 \= \hspace{.2in} Bradley M. Kuhn. \\

Copyright \= \copyright{} 2014 \> \hspace{.2in} Free Software Foundation, Inc. \\

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2008, 2014 \> \hspace{.2in} Software Freedom Law Center. \\

\end{tabbing}

\vspace{.1in}

\begin{center}

The copyright holders of this part hereby grant the freedom to copy, modify,

convey, Adapt, and/or redistribute this work under the terms of the Creative

Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International License.  A copy of that

license is available at

\url{https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode}.

\vfill

receives as a public, collaborative project.  Please

\href{https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial/history/master:compliance-guide.tex}{review

  its Git logs} for full documentation of all contributions.

\end{center}

}

\pagebreak

\chapter*{Executive Summary}

This is a guide to effective compliance with the GNU General Public

License (GPL) and related licenses.  Copyleft advocates

usually seek to assist the community with

GPL compliance cooperatively.   This guide focuses on complying from the

start, so that readers can learn to avoid enforcement actions entirely, or, at

least, minimize  the negative impact when enforcement actions occur.

This guide  introduces and explains basic legal concepts related to the GPL and its

enforcement by copyright holders. It also outlines business practices and

methods that lead to better GPL compliance.  Finally, it recommends proper

post-violation responses to the concerns of copyright holders.

\chapter{Background}

Copyright law grants exclusive rights to authors.  Authors who chose copyleft

seek to protect the freedom of users and developers to copy, share, modify

and redistribute the software.  However, copyleft is ultimately implemented

through copyright, and the GPL is primarily and by default a copyright

license.  (See \S~\ref{explaining-copyright} for more about the interaction

between copyright and copyleft.)  Copyright law grants an unnatural exclusive

control to copyright holders regarding copyright-controlled permissions

related to the work.  Therefore, copyright holders (or their agents) are the

ultimately the sole authorities to enforce copyleft and protect the rights of

users.  Actions for copyright infringement are the ultimate legal mechanism

for enforcement.  Therefore, copyright holders, or collaborative groups of

copyright holders, have historically been the actors in GPL enforcement.

The earliest of these efforts began soon after the GPL was written by

Richard M.~Stallman (RMS) in 1989, and consisted of informal community efforts,

often in public Usenet discussions.\footnote{One example is the public

  outcry over NeXT's attempt to make the Objective-C front-end to GCC

  proprietary.  RMS, in fact, handled this enforcement action personally and

  the Objective-C front-end is still part of upstream GCC today.}  Over the next decade, the Free Software Foundation (FSF),

which holds copyrights in many GNU programs, was the only visible entity

actively enforcing its GPL'd copyrights on behalf of the software freedom

community.

FSF's enforcement

was generally a private process; the FSF contacted violators

\href{https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#ModifyGPL}{explanation given in the GPL FAQ}.

\vfill

This material is regularly updated by a community of contributors and is

available online at all times at \url{https://copyleft.org/guide/}.  Patches

are indeed welcome to this material.  Sources can be found in the Git

repository at: \url{https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial/}

}

\end{center}

\end{titlepage}

\tableofcontents

\chapter{Preface}

This tutorial is the culmination of nearly a decade of studying and writing

about software freedom licensing and the GPL\@.  Each part of this tutorial

is a course unto itself, educating the reader on a myriad of topics from the

deep details of the GPLv2 and GPLv3, common business models in the copyleft

licensing area (both the friendly and unfriendly kind), best practices for

compliance with the GPL, for engineers, managers, and lawyers, as well as

real-world case studies of GPL enforcement matters.

It is unlikely that all the information herein is necessary to learn all at

once, and therefore this tutorial likely serves best as a reference book.

The material herein has been used as the basis for numerous live tutorials

and discussion groups since 2002, and the materials have been periodically

updated.   They likely stand on their own as excellent reference material.

However, if you are reading these course materials without attending a live

tutorial session, please note that this material is merely a summary of the

highlights of the various CLE and other tutorial courses based on this

material.  Please be aware that during the actual courses, class discussion

and presentation supplements this printed curriculum.  Simply reading this

material is \textbf{not equivalent} to attending a course.

\mainmatter

\input{gpl-lgpl}

\input{compliance-guide}

\input{enforcement-case-studies}

\appendix

\input{license-texts}

\end{document}

%      Tutorial Text for the Detailed Study and Analysis of GPL and LGPL course

% License: CC-By-SA-4.0

% The copyright holders hereby grant the freedom to copy, modify, convey,

% Adapt, and/or redistribute this work under the terms of the Creative

% Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International License.

% This text 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.

% You should have received a copy of the license with this document in

% a file called 'CC-By-SA-4.0.txt'.  If not, please visit

% https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode to receive

% the license text.

\part{Case Studies in GPL Enforcement}

{\parindent 0in

This part is: \\

\begin{tabbing}

Copyright \= \copyright{} 2003, 2004, 2014 \hspace{1mm} \= \hspace{1.mm} \=  \kill

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2014 \>  Bradley M. Kuhn. \\

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2014 \>  Denver Gingerich \\

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2003, 2004, 2014 \> Free Software Foundation, Inc. \\

\end{tabbing}

\vspace{.2in}

\begin{center}

The copyright holders hereby grant the freedom to copy, modify, convey,

Adapt, and/or redistribute this work under the terms of the Creative Commons

Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International License.  A copy of that license is

available at \url{https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode}.

\end{center}

\vfill

receives as a public, collaborative project.  Please

\href{https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial/history/master:enforcement-case-studies.tex}{review

  its Git logs} for full documentation of all contributions.

}

% =====================================================================

% START OF SECOND DAY SEMINAR SECTION

% =====================================================================

\chapter*{Preface}

This one-day course presents the details of five different GPL

compliance cases handled by FSF's GPL Compliance Laboratory. Each case

offers unique insights into problems that can arise when the terms of

the GPL are not properly followed, and how diplomatic negotiation between

the violator and the copyright holder can yield positive results for

both parties.

Attendees should have successfully completely the course, a ``Detailed

Study and Analysis of the GPL and LGPL,'' as the material from that

course forms the building blocks for this material.

This course is of most interest to lawyers who have clients or

employers that deal with Free Software on a regular basis. However,

technical managers and executives whose businesses use or distribute

Free Software will also find the course very helpful.

\bigskip

These course materials are merely a summary of the highlights of the

course presented. Please be aware that during the actual GPL course, class

discussion supplements this printed curriculum. Simply reading it is

not equivalent to attending the course.

%FIXME-LATER: write these

%\chapter{Not All GPL Enforcement is Created Equal}

%\section{For-Profit Enforcement}

%\section{Community and Non-Profit Enforcement}

\chapter{Overview of Community Enforcement}

The GPL is a Free Software license with legal teeth. Unlike licenses like

the X11-style or various BSD licenses, the GPL (and by extension, the LGPL) is

designed to defend as well as grant freedom. We saw in the last course

% The copyright holders hereby grant the freedom to copy, modify, convey,

% Adapt, and/or redistribute this work under the terms of the Creative

% Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International License.

% This text 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.

% You should have received a copy of the license with this document in

% a file called 'CC-By-SA-4.0.txt'.  If not, please visit

% https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode to receive

% the license text.

% FIXME-LATER: I should make a macro like the Texinfo @xref stuff for places

%      where I'm saying ``see section X in this tutorial'', so that the extra

%      verbiage isn't there in the HTML versions that I'll eventually do.

%      Maybe something like that already exists?  In the worst case, I could

%      adapt @xref from texinfo.texi for it.

\newcommand{\defn}[1]{\emph{#1}}

\part{Detailed Analysis of the GNU GPL and Related Licenses}

\label{gpl-lgpl-part}

{\parindent 0in

\tutorialpartsplit{``Detailed Analysis of the GNU GPL and Related Licenses''}{This part} is: \\

\begin{tabbing}

Copyright \= \copyright{} 2003--2007, 2014 \hspace{.1mm} \=  \kill

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2014 \> Bradley M. Kuhn \\

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2014 \>  Anthony K. Sebro, Jr. \\

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2003--2007, 2014 \>  Free Software Foundation, Inc. \\

Copyright \> \copyright{} 2014 \>  Software Freedom Law Center.

\end{tabbing}

\vspace{.2in}

\begin{center}

The copyright holders of \tutorialpartsplit{``Detailed Analysis of the GNU GPL and Related Licenses''}{this part} hereby grant the freedom to copy, modify,

convey, Adapt, and/or redistribute this work under the terms of the Creative

Commons Attribution Share Alike 4.0 International License.  A copy of that

license is available at

\verb=https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode=.

\end{center}

\vfill

receives as a public, collaborative project.  Please

\href{https://gitorious.org/copyleft-org/tutorial/history/master:gpl-lgpl.tex}{review

  its Git logs} for full documentation of all contributions.

}

\pagebreak

\tutorialpartsplit{This tutorial}{This part of the tutorial} gives a

comprehensive explanation of the most popular Free Software copyright

license, the GNU General Public License (``GNU GPL'', or sometimes just

``GPL'') -- both version 2 (``GPLv2'') and version 3 (``GPLv3'') -- and

teaches lawyers, software developers, managers and businesspeople how to use

the GPL (and GPL'd software) successfully both as a community-building

``Constitution'' for a software project, and to incorporate copylefted

software into a new Free Software business and in existing, successful

enterprises.

To benefit from this part of the tutorial, readers should

have a general familiarity with software development processes.  A basic

understanding of how copyright law applies to software is also helpful.  The

tutorial is of most interest to lawyers, software developers and managers who

run or advise software businesses that modify and/or redistribute software

under the terms of the GNU GPL (or who wish to do so in the future), and those

who wish to make use of existing GPL'd software in their enterprise.

Upon completion of this part of the tutorial, readers can expect

to have learned the following:

\begin{itemize}

  \item The freedom-defending purpose of various terms in the GNU GPLv2 and GPLv3.

  \item The differences between GPLv2 and GPLv3.

  \item The redistribution options under the GPLv2 and GPLv3.

  \item The obligations when modifying GPLv2'd or GPLv3'd software.

  \item How to build a plan for proper and successful compliance with the GPL.

  \item The business advantages that the GPL provides.

  \item The most common business models used in conjunction with the GPL.

  \item How existing GPL'd software can be used in existing enterprises.

  \item The basics of LGPLv2.1 and LGPLv3, and how they

    differ from the GPLv2 and GPLv3, respectively.

% license-texts.tex                                                  -*- LaTeX -*-

%      Tutorial Text for the Detailed Study and Analysis of GPL and LGPL course

%

% Copyright (C) 1989, 1991, 1999, 2002 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

\chapter{The GNU General Public License, version 2}

\begin{center}

{\parindent 0in

Version 2, June 1991

Copyright \copyright\ 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

\bigskip

59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA  02111-1307, USA

\bigskip

Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies

of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

}

\end{center}

\begin{center}

{\bf\large Preamble}

\end{center}

The licenses for most software are designed to take away your freedom

to share and change it. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is

intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change Free

Software---to make sure the software is free for all its users. This

General Public License applies to most of the Free Software

Foundation's software and to any other program whose authors commit to

using it. (Some other Free Software Foundation software is covered by

the GNU Library General Public License instead.) You can apply it to

your programs, too.

When we speak of Free Software, we are referring to freedom, not price.

Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the

freedom to distribute copies of Free Software (and charge for this service

if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it,

that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new Free programs;

and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to make restrictions that forbid anyone to

deny you these rights or to ask you to surrender the rights. These

restrictions translate to certain responsibilities for you if you

distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or