How to specify GPL-2.0-only on github new repository

promitheas@iusearchlinux.fyi to Programming@beehaw.org – 9 points –

Hey everyone. I would like to specify that I want to use GPLv2 only without including support for GPLv3 in a repository I want to create. Anyone know how I can do that through github's create a new repository interface?

Much appreciated

9

Just create new file called LICENSE in the root directory and and paste the license text into it.

For manual placement I recommend putting it in COPYING since GitHub will still detect it. It's a peeve of mine that using the selector puts the GPL in LICENSE.

Why don't you like putting the license in LICENSE?

The how-to specifies to use COPYING, so I prefer it for consistency.

What are the differences between github's GPLv2 and the only version? Basically, where can I find the text I need to paste into LICENSE?

There is no difference. You need to add copyright banners to your program (source code headers, output of --version, etc.). There, you specify which GPL versions apply. If you don’t specify a version number, it’s not only v2 or later, but any GPL version ever published by the FSF. See Sec. 9 of the GPLv2:

If the Program specifies a version number of this License which applies to it and “any later version”, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that version or of any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.

So just so I clear this up in my head. Do you mean if my user types myprog --version for example, the licensing information should appear there? What about non-programs, such as dotfiles (what I am trying to do) or CSS (themes for lemmy I recently got into doing)?

Or do you mean at the top of each file in my repository there should be some licensing information?

Thanks again for your patience

There is no legal requirement that your program output what license it is under as a part of any particular command, or that each file contains a license header. Providing the license once at the top level and indicating that the entire repository is under that license is sufficient to put all of the code under the license of your choosing. Anything more is simply to make it more obvious when looking at a particular piece in isolation.