Releasing software and other questions...

i-ghost · October 12, 2008, 7:16pm

Hi, I have two questions I hope you guys and gals could answer.

Firstly, I have scripted a very nice bash script which I would like to release under GPL v2. When I do this, are my rights, such as being held as the original author and copyright holder, safe?

Secondly, can I release it here for testing and if I could, where would I post it?

deltaflyer44 · October 12, 2008, 7:19pm

sourceforge is the main place for releasing stuff,unless you want it included in A SuSE release.
SourceForge.net: Open Source Software https://build.opensuse.org/

Andy

i-ghost · October 12, 2008, 8:10pm

Thanks for the info, much appreciated

Any advice in regards to question one? (Hope I’m not sounding impertinent or ungrateful).

felipe1982 · October 13, 2008, 5:27am

Firstly, when you assign your software to GNU GPL v2, you are still the copyright owner. It is STILL your work, and you still have say over your software. You can REMOVE the GNU GPL at any time, and do with it as you wish, but you CANNOT revoke the copies that were made by (given to) other people. They can still modify that portion of your program as GNU GPL v2, and you STILL are the owner of its copyright. You will always be the copyright holder of the software, for as long as the laws of copyright in your country permit. If you release your software into the Public Domain then you NO LONGER are the owner of the copyright. In fact, no one owns it – it belongs to the public so to speak.

If it is a small script, maybe sourceforge.net is a bit much. What about pasting it on a free download site? Or try opensuse private pastebin - collaborative debugging tool so it be be peer-reviewed.

I look forward to see your script.

i-ghost · October 14, 2008, 6:59pm

Thanks felipe1982 for clarifying

As for the script…

opensuse private pastebin - collaborative debugging tool

You should be able to gauge as to what it does.

Thanks again.

ken_yap · October 14, 2008, 7:49pm

Speaking of releasing software, a speaker at a free software conference got a few chuckles with his slides on programming language history. You have to imagine the following are projected sequentially (don’t complain to me about the years, I was never good at exact history):