standards: --version
1
1 4.7.1 '--version'
1 -----------------
1
1 The standard '--version' option should direct the program to print
1 information about its name, version, origin and legal status, all on
1 standard output, and then exit successfully. Other options and
1 arguments should be ignored once this is seen, and the program should
1 not perform its normal function.
1
1 The first line is meant to be easy for a program to parse; the
1 version number proper starts after the last space. In addition, it
1 contains the canonical name for this program, in this format:
1
1 GNU Emacs 19.30
1
1 The program's name should be a constant string; _don't_ compute it from
1 'argv[0]'. The idea is to state the standard or canonical name for the
1 program, not its file name. There are other ways to find out the
1 precise file name where a command is found in 'PATH'.
1
1 If the program is a subsidiary part of a larger package, mention the
1 package name in parentheses, like this:
1
1 emacsserver (GNU Emacs) 19.30
1
1 If the package has a version number which is different from this
1 program's version number, you can mention the package version number
1 just before the close-parenthesis.
1
1 If you _need_ to mention the version numbers of libraries which are
1 distributed separately from the package which contains this program, you
1 can do so by printing an additional line of version info for each
1 library you want to mention. Use the same format for these lines as for
1 the first line.
1
1 Please do not mention all of the libraries that the program uses
1 "just for completeness"--that would produce a lot of unhelpful clutter.
1 Please mention library version numbers only if you find in practice that
1 they are very important to you in debugging.
1
1 The following line, after the version number line or lines, should be
1 a copyright notice. If more than one copyright notice is called for,
1 put each on a separate line.
1
1 Next should follow a line stating the license, preferably using one
1 of abbreviations below, and a brief statement that the program is free
1 software, and that users are free to copy and change it. Also mention
1 that there is no warranty, to the extent permitted by law. See
1 recommended wording below.
1
1 It is ok to finish the output with a list of the major authors of the
1 program, as a way of giving credit.
1
1 Here's an example of output that follows these rules:
1
1 GNU hello 2.3
1 Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
1 License GPLv3+: GNU GPL version 3 or later <http://gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>
1 This is free software: you are free to change and redistribute it.
1 There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
1
1 You should adapt this to your program, of course, filling in the
1 proper year, copyright holder, name of program, and the references to
1 distribution terms, and changing the rest of the wording as necessary.
1
1 This copyright notice only needs to mention the most recent year in
1 which changes were made--there's no need to list the years for previous
1 versions' changes. You don't have to mention the name of the program in
1 these notices, if that is inconvenient, since it appeared in the first
1 line. (The rules are different for copyright notices in source files;
1 ⇒(maintain)Copyright Notices.)
1
1 Translations of the above lines must preserve the validity of the
1 copyright notices (⇒Internationalization). If the translation's
1 character set supports it, the '(C)' should be replaced with the
1 copyright symbol, as follows:
1
1 (the official copyright symbol, which is the letter C in a circle);
1
1 Write the word "Copyright" exactly like that, in English. Do not
1 translate it into another language. International treaties recognize
1 the English word "Copyright"; translations into other languages do not
1 have legal significance.
1
1 Finally, here is the table of our suggested license abbreviations.
1 Any abbreviation can be followed by 'vVERSION[+]', meaning that
1 particular version, or later versions with the '+', as shown above. In
1 the case of a GNU license, _always_ indicate the permitted versions in
1 this way.
1
1 In the case of exceptions for extra permissions with the GPL, we use
1 '/' for a separator; the version number can follow the license
1 abbreviation as usual, as in the examples below.
1
1 GPL
1 GNU General Public License, <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html>.
1
1 LGPL
1 GNU Lesser General Public License,
1 <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.html>.
1
1 GPL/Ada
1 GNU GPL with the exception for Ada.
1
1 Apache
1 The Apache Software Foundation license,
1 <http://www.apache.org/licenses>.
1
1 Artistic
1 The Artistic license used for Perl,
1 <http://dev.perl.org/licenses/artistic.html>.
1
1 Expat
1 The Expat license, <http://www.jclark.com/xml/copying.txt>.
1
1 MPL
1 The Mozilla Public License, <http://www.mozilla.org/MPL/>.
1
1 OBSD
1 The original (4-clause) BSD license, incompatible with the GNU GPL
1 <http://www.xfree86.org/3.3.6/COPYRIGHT2.html#6>.
1
1 PHP
1 The license used for PHP, <http://www.php.net/license/>.
1
1 public domain
1 The non-license that is being in the public domain,
1 <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html#PublicDomain>.
1
1 Python
1 The license for Python,
1 <http://directory.fsf.org/wiki?title=License:Python2.0.1>.
1
1 RBSD
1 The revised (3-clause) BSD, compatible with the GNU GPL,
1 <http://www.xfree86.org/3.3.6/COPYRIGHT2.html#5>.
1
1 X11
1 The simple non-copyleft license used for most versions of the X
1 Window System, <http://www.xfree86.org/3.3.6/COPYRIGHT2.html#3>.
1
1 Zlib
1 The license for Zlib, <http://www.gzip.org/zlib/zlib_license.html>.
1
1 More information about these licenses and many more are on the GNU
1 licensing web pages, <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/license-list.html>.
1