Update README & COPYING

This patch contains a re-write of MediaWiki's README. The current README has
been obsoleted by the passage of time, and its current patchwork of contents
is not especially helpful or flattering to MediaWiki. GitHub automatically
renders a repository's README below its file listings; GitHub's popularity
thus means that this file is a lot more visible than it once was and is more
likely to shape a prospective developer's first impression of MediaWiki as a
software platform.

The re-write was conducted on-wiki, at <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/README>,
and advertised on wikitech-l. Not much time has passed since the announcement,
but even so the updated README is already considerably better, and there's no
reason not to continue synchronizing changes from the wiki page on an ongoing
basis, so the editorial work on MediaWiki.org need not stop as a consequence of
this change being merged.

This patch also includes an update to COPYING, incorporating legal text that
has been removed from the README, and adding some more information about
licensing. These changes include:

- changed URL from GPL (unspecified version, pointing currently to v3)
  to GPL v2, to match the text
- removed statement that the Foundation does not hold any rights in
  the codebase, as it may in some cases have rights through
  contractors
- added note about looking for information in individual components
- removed incorrect CC information about Sajax (which appears to be
  BSD-licensed, according to its file header in skins/common/ajax.js
- rephrased the CC license information to make more clear and precise

Bug: 50552
Change-Id: Iff7df2567bd90c136ef81fb8dbe7b6d4408be75f
This commit is contained in:
Ori Livneh 2013-07-29 15:29:17 -07:00
parent c38472f640
commit 7eea0f92cb
2 changed files with 64 additions and 115 deletions

38
COPYING
View file

@ -1,3 +1,41 @@
== License and copyright information ==
=== License ===
MediaWiki is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License,
version 2 or later. Derivative works and later versions of the code must be
free software licensed under the same or a compatible license. This includes
"extensions" that use MediaWiki functions or variables; see
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLAndPlugins for details.
For the full text of version 2 of the license, see
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html or '''GNU General Public License'''
below.
=== Copyright owners ===
MediaWiki contributors, including those listed in the CREDITS file, hold the
copyright to this work.
=== Additional license information ===
Some components of MediaWiki imported from other projects may be under other
Free and Open Source, or Free Culture, licenses. Specific details of their
licensing information can be found in those components.
Sections of code written exclusively by Lee Crocker or Erik Moeller are also
released into the public domain, which does not impair the obligations of users
under the GPL for use of the whole code or other sections thereof.
MediaWiki uses the following Creative Commons icons to illustrate links to the
CC licenses:
* skins/common/images/cc-by-nc-sa.png
* skins/common/images/cc-by-sa.png
These icons are trademarked, and used subject to the CC trademark license,
available at http://creativecommons.org/policies#trademark
== GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE ==
Version 2, June 1991

141
README
View file

@ -1,122 +1,33 @@
For system requirements, installation and upgrade details, see the files
RELEASE-NOTES, INSTALL, and UPGRADE.
== MediaWiki ==
MediaWiki is the software used for Wikipedia [http://www.wikipedia.org/] and the
other Wikimedia Foundation websites. Compared to other wikis, it has an
excellent range of features and support for high-traffic websites using
multiple servers (Wikimedia sites peak in the 100K+ requests per second range
as of January 2012).
MediaWiki is a popular and free, open-source wiki software package written in
PHP. It serves as the platform for Wikipedia and its sister projects, which
deliver content in over 280 languages to more than half a billion people each
month. MediaWiki's reliability and robust feature set have earned it a large
and vibrant community of third-party users and developers.
While quite usable on smaller sites, you may find you have to "roll your own"
local documentation, and some aspects of configuration may seem overcomplicated
because MediaWiki is primarily targeted as an in-house tool.
MediaWiki is:
The MediaWiki software was written by:
* Lee Daniel Crocker
* Magnus Manske
* Jan Hidders
* Brion Vibber
* Axel Boldt
* Geoffrey T. Dairiki
* Tomasz Wegrzanowski
* Erik Moeller
* Tim Starling
* Gabriel Wicke
* Antoine Musso
* Evan Prodromou
* Ævar Arnfjörð Bjarmason
* Niklas Laxström
* Domas Mituzas
* Rob Church
* Jens Frank
* Yuri Astrakhan
* Aryeh Gregor
* Aaron Schulz
* Andrew Garrett
* Raimond Spekking
* Alexandre Emsenhuber
* Siebrand Mazeland
* Chad Horohoe
* Roan Kattouw
* Trevor Pascal
* Bryan Tong Minh
* Sam Reed
* Victor Vasiliev
* Rotem Liss
* Platonides
* Many others (view CREDITS for a more complete list)
* feature-rich and extensible, both on-wiki and with over 2,000 extensions;
* scalable and suitable for both small and large sites;
* available in your language; and
* simple to install, working on most hardware/software combinations.
The contributors hold the copyright to this work, and it is licensed under the
terms of the GNU General Public License, version 2 or later (see
http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/gpl.html). Derivative works and later
versions of the code must be free software licensed under the same or a
compatible license. This includes "extensions" that use MediaWiki functions or
variables; see http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-faq.html#GPLAndPlugins for
details.
For system requirements, installation, and upgrade details, see the files
RELEASE-NOTES, INSTALL, and UPGRADE.
The Wikimedia Foundation currently has no legal rights to the software.
* Ready to get started?
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Download
* Looking for the technical manual?
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Contents
* Seeking help from a person?
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Communication
* Looking to file a bug report or a feature request?
https://bugs.mediawiki.org/
* Interested in helping out?
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/How_to_contribute
Sections of code written exclusively by Lee Crocker or Erik Moeller are also
released into the public domain, which does not impair the obligations of users
under the GPL for use of the whole code or other sections thereof.
MediaWiki makes use of the Sajax Toolkit by modernmethod,
http://www.modernmethod.com/sajax/ which has the following license:
'This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License. To view a copy of this license, visit
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/ or send a letter
to Creative Commons, 559 Nathan Abbott Way,
Stanford, California 94305, USA.'
MediaWiki use Creative Commons license marks to points to their online
licenses. This content is trademarked and used under a specific license
available at http://creativecommons.org/policies#trademark
The restricted content is:
* skins/common/images/cc-by-nc-sa.png
* skins/common/images/cc-by-sa.png
Many thanks to the Wikimedia regulars for testing and suggestions.
The official website for MediaWiki is located at:
http://www.mediawiki.org/
The code is currently maintained in a Git repository at
gerrit.wikimedia.org. See http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Git for details.
Please report bugs and make feature requests in our Bugzilla system:
* https://bugzilla.wikimedia.org/
Documentation and discussion on new features may be found at:
* http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:FAQ
* http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Documentation
* http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Development
Extensions are listed at:
* http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Category:Extensions
If you are setting up your own wiki based on this software, it is highly
recommended that you subscribe to mediawiki-announce:
* https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce
The mailing list is very low volume, and is intended primarily for announcements
of new versions, bug fixes, and security issues.
A higher volume support mailing list can be found at:
* https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-l
Developer discussion takes place at:
* https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikitech-l
There is also a development and support channel #mediawiki on irc.freenode.net,
and an unoffical support forum at www.mwusers.com.
MediaWiki is the result of global collaboration and cooperation. The CREDITS
file lists technical contributors to the project. The COPYING file explains
MediaWiki's copyright and license (GNU General Public License, version 2 or
later). Many thanks to the Wikimedia regulars for testing and suggestions.