5 ms·

Is StackOverflow compatible with non-cc-wiki-compatibly-licensed software?

1 points by jed_s 17y ago

jed_s 17y ago
According to the footer on every StackOverflow page, all submissions are under the copyleft cc-wiki with attribution required license. CC licenses are specifically not recommended for software. (¹) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions#Can_I_use_a_Creative_Commons_license_for_software.3F http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions#C... [Insert favorite legal disclaimers here.] An ultra-conservative/pessimistic interpretation of the "remix" and "share alike" portions of the cc-wiki license (yes, just the human-readable summary) would prohibit use of even ideas expressed on the site without licensing the result under "the same or similar license" -- imposing restrictions incompatible with many open source licenses, let alone closed-source development. Several meta threads at StackOverflow have pointed out this issue, resulting in a lot of discussion about fair use/excerpts, snippets, re-implementation, etc.; some users have even begun putting an additional license for their contributions within their profile. http://www.google.com/search?.q=site:meta.stackoverflow.com+stack+overflow+code+snippet+license+legality http://www.google.com/search?.q=site:meta.stackoverflow.com+... < I decided to cut my editorializing /> ~Jed -- (¹) In order to comply with StackOverflow's attribution requirements, I am required to indicate that: 1. This information was pointed out on StackOverflow 2. Specifically, in the following answer: http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/3646/im-worried-about-stack-overflow-content-licensing/3791#3791 http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/3646/im-worried-abou... 3. By StackOverflow user "Mark Harrison", 4. Whose profile is available at: http://meta.stackoverflow.com/users/116/mark-harrison http://meta.stackoverflow.com/users/116/mark-harrison I may actually be in violation of the attribution requirements due to an inability to direcly link the StackOverflow user's name to the associated profile. http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/06/attribution-required/ http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/06/attribution-required/

1 points by jed_s 17y ago

jed_s 17y ago

According to the footer on every StackOverflow page, all submissions are under the copyleft cc-wiki with attribution required license. CC licenses are specifically not recommended for software. (¹) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5/ http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions#Can_I_use_a_Creative_Commons_license_for_software.3F http://wiki.creativecommons.org/Frequently_Asked_Questions#C... [Insert favorite legal disclaimers here.] An ultra-conservative/pessimistic interpretation of the "remix" and "share alike" portions of the cc-wiki license (yes, just the human-readable summary) would prohibit use of even ideas expressed on the site without licensing the result under "the same or similar license" -- imposing restrictions incompatible with many open source licenses, let alone closed-source development. Several meta threads at StackOverflow have pointed out this issue, resulting in a lot of discussion about fair use/excerpts, snippets, re-implementation, etc.; some users have even begun putting an additional license for their contributions within their profile. http://www.google.com/search?.q=site:meta.stackoverflow.com+stack+overflow+code+snippet+license+legality http://www.google.com/search?.q=site:meta.stackoverflow.com+... < I decided to cut my editorializing /> ~Jed -- (¹) In order to comply with StackOverflow's attribution requirements, I am required to indicate that: 1. This information was pointed out on StackOverflow 2. Specifically, in the following answer: http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/3646/im-worried-about-stack-overflow-content-licensing/3791#3791 http://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/3646/im-worried-abou... 3. By StackOverflow user "Mark Harrison", 4. Whose profile is available at: http://meta.stackoverflow.com/users/116/mark-harrison http://meta.stackoverflow.com/users/116/mark-harrison I may actually be in violation of the attribution requirements due to an inability to direcly link the StackOverflow user's name to the associated profile. http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/06/attribution-required/ http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2009/06/attribution-required/