Notice: this Wiki will be going read only early in 2024 and edits will no longer be possible. Please see: https://gitlab.eclipse.org/eclipsefdn/helpdesk/-/wikis/Wiki-shutdown-plan for the plan.
Difference between revisions of "About files"
Line 13: | Line 13: | ||
*Nested third party code must be identified in the about and all licenses applicable to all third party content in the plug-in should be linked from or present in the about.html file. See the [http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/org.eclipse.tomcat/about.html?view=co about in the Tomcat plug-in] for an example of this (MX4J is nested). | *Nested third party code must be identified in the about and all licenses applicable to all third party content in the plug-in should be linked from or present in the about.html file. See the [http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/org.eclipse.tomcat/about.html?view=co about in the Tomcat plug-in] for an example of this (MX4J is nested). | ||
*Encryption (either use of or implementation of) should be identified in the about. See the [http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/org.eclipse.core.runtime.compatibility.auth/about.html?view=co about for the Authorization Compatibility plug-in] for an example of this. | *Encryption (either use of or implementation of) should be identified in the about. See the [http://dev.eclipse.org/viewcvs/index.cgi/org.eclipse.core.runtime.compatibility.auth/about.html?view=co about for the Authorization Compatibility plug-in] for an example of this. | ||
+ | |||
+ | <br> | ||
+ | <strong>Note:</strong> this is not an official Eclipse Foundation legal document. It was written as a abbreviated guide for plug-in developers writing Abouts. For the official Eclipse documentation see the [http://www.eclipse.org/legal/guidetolegaldoc.php guide to the legal documentation for Eclipse based content]. |
Revision as of 22:07, 20 June 2007
About Files
It is an Eclipse Foundation requirement that the About file (about.html) exist and be accurate for every plug-in, whether it contains third party code or not. If a plug-in uses or implements encryption this must also be called out in the About file. Recently I have noticed that many abouts that contain third party code are not an accurate reflection of the content redistributed in that plug-in or worse, the about file is missing! There are 2 basic about templates:
- about for plug-ins that contain ONLY EPL CONTENT
- about for plug-ins that contain some or all NON-EPL CONTENT - sometimes we refer to this as third party content
The platform also uses an ABOUT file for SOURCE PLUG-INS.
The Lucene plug-in demonstrates a simple example of an about that contains third party content. Notice the link to license files in a directory called about_files. The Europa projects tend to do this by convention so the about file isn't too long.
POINTS TO REMEMBER:
- Nested third party code must be identified in the about and all licenses applicable to all third party content in the plug-in should be linked from or present in the about.html file. See the about in the Tomcat plug-in for an example of this (MX4J is nested).
- Encryption (either use of or implementation of) should be identified in the about. See the about for the Authorization Compatibility plug-in for an example of this.
Note: this is not an official Eclipse Foundation legal document. It was written as a abbreviated guide for plug-in developers writing Abouts. For the official Eclipse documentation see the guide to the legal documentation for Eclipse based content.