# License Required for Distributing the Translation of CMake Documentation?

**URL:** <https://discourse.cmake.org/t/license-required-for-distributing-the-translation-of-cmake-documentation/8461>\
**Category:** Development\
**Created:** [July 5, 2023, 6:33am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/license-required-for-distributing-the-translation-of-cmake-documentation/8461 "2023-07-05T06:33:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hwhsu1231](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/hwhsu1231/32/5358_2.png) [@hwhsu1231](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/hwhsu1231)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 6:33am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/license-required-for-distributing-the-translation-of-cmake-documentation/8461/1 "2023-07-05T06:33:12Z")

</div>

Hello CMake Team.

Suppose that I want to distribute a translation project of the CMake documentation on GitHub, should I use the BSD 3-clause license? Or can I use other more/less permissive licenses?

In my planned project, except the **POT/PO** files generated by **Sphinx with Gettext builder** , it does not contain any source code from [Kitware/CMake](https://github.com/Kitware/CMake). besides, it also contains the **CMake/Python** files used for automatic building, which are **written by myself**. And then, I will host the translated HTML files of the Help documentation on GitHub Page or other URLs.

In this situation,

1. Is it required that I should use the same license as CMake (i.e. BSD 3-clause) use in the repository, and include CMake’s [Copyright](https://github.com/Kitware/CMake/blob/7bd24c1da5d093199dedab3fcfad6ec93d4c7aa5/Copyright.txt#L1C1-L30) Information?
2. If so, where should I paste the Copyright Information?
3. If not, can I use more permissive licenses (ex. MIT) or less permissive licenses (ex. GPL)?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![brad.king](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/brad.king/32/11_2.png) [@brad.king](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/brad.king)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2023, 11:47am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/license-required-for-distributing-the-translation-of-cmake-documentation/8461/2 "2023-07-05T11:47:13Z")

</div>

The BSD 3-clause license covering CMake’s official documentation only requires that derived works mention the copyright notice and license terms of the original work. Each of the [official documentation](https://cmake.org/cmake/help/latest/) pages contains a copyright notice at the bottom. Presumably each translated page will correspond to an original page, so you should just be able to have a similar copyright notice at the bottom of each page, along with a link to the corresponding original page. Beyond that, you can choose any compatible license for the derived work.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hwhsu1231](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/hwhsu1231/32/5358_2.png) [@hwhsu1231](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/hwhsu1231)\
**Post date:** [July 6, 2023, 8:41am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/license-required-for-distributing-the-translation-of-cmake-documentation/8461/3 "2023-07-06T08:41:42Z")

</div>

> Presumably each translated page will correspond to an original page, so you should just be able to have a similar copyright notice at the bottom of each page, along with a link to the corresponding original page.

1. The translation files generated by using Sphinx will by default attach the following copyright information at the bottom of each HTML document page:

2. As for the links corresponding to the original HTML page, I’m not quite sure how to attach the corresponding link to each HTML page?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![brad.king](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/brad.king/32/11_2.png) [@brad.king](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/brad.king)\
**Post date:** [July 11, 2023, 4:05pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/license-required-for-distributing-the-translation-of-cmake-documentation/8461/4 "2023-07-11T16:05:50Z")

</div>

1. Yes.

2. Nevermind about linking back to the original pages.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![hwhsu1231](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/hwhsu1231/32/5358_2.png) [@hwhsu1231](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/hwhsu1231)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 7:40am UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/license-required-for-distributing-the-translation-of-cmake-documentation/8461/5 "2024-03-07T07:40:15Z")

</div>

Hello, CMake Team.

Since the `*.pot` files generated by `sphinx-build` command with `gettext` builder will automatically contains a copyright information at the top of the file by default, I wonder:

1. whether I should retain it?
2. could I remove it (if possible)?

based on the 3-Clause BSD license covering CMake’s official documentation.

![image](https://discourse.cmake.org/uploads/default/original/2X/2/23f8ad15021f8f93a6d01f52e53945c5b87bf130.png)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![brad.king](https://discourse.cmake.org/user_avatar/discourse.cmake.org/brad.king/32/11_2.png) [@brad.king](https://discourse.cmake.org/u/brad.king)\
**Post date:** [March 7, 2024, 1:42pm UTC](https://discourse.cmake.org/t/license-required-for-distributing-the-translation-of-cmake-documentation/8461/6 "2024-03-07T13:42:39Z")

</div>

Since those notices are generated by tooling you’re running locally, and not something included in a distribution you’ve received, I think removing or revising them is fine.