How to License

[The_Hard_Mission_Guy]

Well Well Well folks
it seems that there might be a possibility that I might release something in the very near future! ( won't say what it's , gonna be a big surprise )

but what totally got out of focus is How I'm gonna license that piece of work.....just to make sure that no asshole can say :"hey that's mine!"

probably putting my name on a readme file won't be sufficient!
I'm must admit that I'm little late in those legal licensing issues , so any wisdom of yours about this topic?

[-=RAV=-AdrianShephard]

if you live in the US, its automatically copyrighted.

[The_Hard_Mission_Guy]

so you mean if I release it with a readme file saying :"hey it's me the author" then I'm legally protected? just that easy?

but what if I don't live in the US?

[The Storm]

You can create your own license and put it in to the first lines of some .cpp file. Else if you want to use already public license read the GPL and the BSD one and make your chose, just put a text file with the license in to the folder of the sources and thats all, you are protected. Well you can look in EULA too.

[Whistler]

Just write "Copyright (c) <year> <name of the author>" at the top of each of the source files.
And then, you can put the following text if you want others to use in any way:

PHP Code:

Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without
modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions
are met:
1. Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer.
2. Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright
   notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the
   documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution.
3. Neither the name of the University nor the names of its contributors
   may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software
   without specific prior written permission.

THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE REGENTS AND CONTRIBUTORS ``AS IS'' AND
ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
ARE DISCLAIMED.  IN NO EVENT SHALL THE REGENTS OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE
FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL
DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS
OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION)
HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT
LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY
OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGE. 


Or, put the following text if you don't want others to take your program without making her modified code available:

PHP Code:

This program 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.

This program 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 this program; if not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA  02110-1301, USA. 


...and then include a copy of this with the package.