a convention for releasing free Javascript programs

Appendix: a convention for releasing free Javascript programs

For references to corresponding source code, we recommend

    // @source:

followed by the URL.

To indicate the license of the Javascript code embedded in a page, we recommend putting the license notice between two notes of this form:

    @licstart  The following is the entire license notice for the 
    Javascript code in this page.
    ...
    @licend  The above is the entire license notice
    for the Javascript code in this page.

Of course, all of this should be contained in a multiline comment.

The GNU GPL, like many other free software licenses, requires distribution of a copy of the license with both source and binary forms of the program. However, the GNU GPL is long enough that including it in a page with a Javascript program can be inconvenient. You can remove that requirement, for code that you have the copyright on, with a license notice like this:

    Copyright (C) YYYY  Developer

    The Javascript code in this page is free software: you can
    redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU
    General Public License (GNU GPL) as published by the Free Software
    Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option)
    any later version.  The code is distributed WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
    without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS
    FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the GNU GPL for more details.

    As additional permission under GNU GPL version 3 section 7, you
    may distribute non-source (e.g., minimized or compacted) forms of
    that code without the copy of the GNU GPL normally required by
    section 4, provided you include this license notice and a URL
    through which recipients can access the Corresponding Source.

http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/javascript-trap.html