Do what the fuck you want to public license
wtfpl.net
wtfpl.net
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5733050#up_5733477
If you're impatient, skip to the part in that thread about the model railroad Java software guy.
Could someone recap me why giving something i created away for free could lead ME to troubles?
>>> Right now, the license does not properly disclaim any implied warranties, which puts the developer at risk.
1) The F word. I get it, lots of people don't care, use it, etc. But it's hard to be in a professional environment, use something that is WTFPL licensed and explain to another professional, a client, whatever, what it means. Wish there was another license that was just "Do whatever you want to" license.
2) OK, so I do whatever I want to with it. Is that "permission" I've been given? I'm not sure. But do you still own the copyright? Also, since I can do whatever I want, can I take your code, copyright it as my own and re-license it and sue you for giving it away for free?
3) So I can do what the F I want to with it, but is the person who licensed it now liable for any damages that may come from using it?
Why is there no “no warranty” clause?
The WTFPL is an all-purpose license and does not cover only computer programs; it can be used for artwork, documentation and so on. As such, it only covers copying, distribution and modification. If you want to add a no warranty clause for a program, you may use the following wording in your source code:
/* This program is free software. It comes without any warranty, to * the extent permitted by applicable law. You can redistribute it * and/or modify it under the terms of the Do What The Fuck You Want * To Public License, Version 2, as published by Sam Hocevar. See * http://www.wtfpl.net/ for more details. */
That doesn't clearly grant me those rights or any rights, it just tells me to do what I like. It doesn't specify any rights that the copyright holder is waiving or granting under the terms of the license; and it can't reasonably be construed to say that the copyright holder disclaims all rights. So I do what I like, but perhaps the copyright holder reserves the right to sue me for whatever it is I decide I like to do with their code.
By contrast, if you decide to sue me for using code you released under an MIT license, the language in that is clear enough that a court can dismiss your suit if what I've done falls under the specific provisions in the license you attached to that code.
Even if we can construe "do what you want to" as granting some kind of permission, it isn't clear what permissions it's granting. It can't really be that I have his permission to do literally anything I want to. That's not a reasonable contract. Since it appears to permit everything, it also permits things which the author would easily and rightfully be able to sue me for, which the author can't waive. So it doesn't permit just anything I want to do. But that's what it says. So what does it permit? The hell of it is that there is no way for me to know until I'm already in trouble. The language of the license doesn't specify any class of safe acts regarding the code, some court has to decide what it allows. And I really have no way of knowing whether what I'm doing with the code will trigger a suit or whether the court will decide it wasn't permitted. While estoppel could be worth trying if you got into this jam, it isn't clear that estoppel will save you as a user of WTFPL code. And if it isn't clear to me, it won't be clear to an author who licensed a project WTFPL and wants a legal remedy against me for some use of his code; even having an issue go to court threatens my livelihood pretty effectively.
The URL that you are attempting to access is a potential security risk. Trend Micro OfficeScan has blocked this URL in keeping with the network security policy. URL: http://www.wtfpl.net/ Risk Level: Dangerous Details: Verified fraud page or threat source
As such, I'd much rather say, "You can do whatever you want with this, provided that you don't use it to hurt me."
And as long as you're there already, you have lost the simplicity of a single sentence clause, and might as well just use the MIT license.
Practically speaking, not including anything about copyright is just going to make your users (or their lawyers) ask questions before they ship, or before they're acquired, or....
If you really want to put it into the world for anyone to use without restriction, put it in the public domain (e.g., http://creativecommons.org/choose/zero/). But public domaining doesn't happen by accident — just failing to mention copyright doesn't cut it.