Copyright notices for third-party code

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

The NUnit v3.13.2 source tree includes some third-party code that is built into "lib/net35/nunit.framework.dll" in the "NUnit" NuGet package, or into "lib/netstandard2.0/nunitlite.dll" in the "NUnitLite" NuGet package. Maybe those copyright notices should be added to NOTICES.txt, which is likewise distributed in the NuGet packages.

nunit/src/NUnitFramework/framework/Compatibility/System.Collections.Concurrent/ConcurrentQueue.cs

Line 9 in 5631b49

// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

nunit/src/NUnitFramework/framework/Compatibility/System.Collections.Concurrent/IProducerConsumerCollection.cs

Line 4 in 5631b49

// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

nunit/src/NUnitFramework/framework/Compatibility/System.Collections/CollectionDebuggerView.cs

Line 10 in 5631b49

// Copyright (C) 2009 Novell, Inc (https://www.novell.com)

nunit/src/NUnitFramework/framework/Compatibility/System.Diagnostics.CodeAnalysis/NullableAttributes.cs

Line 5 in 5631b49

// Copyright (c) .NET Foundation and Contributors

nunit/src/NUnitFramework/framework/Compatibility/System.Threading/LazyThreadSafetyMode.cs

Line 7 in 5631b49

// Copyright (C) 2010 Novell

nunit/src/NUnitFramework/framework/Compatibility/System.Threading/SpinWait.cs

Line 4 in 5631b49

// Copyright (c) Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

nunit/src/NUnitFramework/framework/Compatibility/System/Lazy.cs

Line 11 in 5631b49

// Copyright (C) 2009 Novell

nunit/src/NUnitFramework/nunitlite/Options.cs

Line 7 in 5631b49

// Copyright (C) 2008 Novell (https://www.novell.com)

[mikkelbu]

I'm no expert in copyright, but I don't see a problem with this. Note that all the "Compatibility" files above are removed in the master branch as NUnit 4 will not support net35.

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

I was thinking about this paragraph of the license terms:

// The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be
// included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

It seems to me that the NuGet packages include a copy of the licensed code, in binary form, but do not include the copyright notice to which the paragraph refers.

[mikkelbu]

I'm sorry. I just reread my comment, and I can see that it is very ambiguous. With

I'm no expert in copyright, but I don't see a problem with this.

I meant that I see no problem in adding this to NOTICES.txt. So I don't see a problem in doing this.

[rprouse]

I'm also fine with adding it to NOTICES.txt and including it in the NuGet file.

[somashekharshekhar]

Hi team, am new to Nunit our project is starting with C# Microservices project, am looking for the framework to test Microservices TDD, can you help me with the framework , post me the git link i will clone and develop it. thanks in advance

[lennartb-]

To clarify, would that simply involve copying the above-mentioned copyright notices (and any other I would find) from external sources/contributors into NOTICES.txt?

[OsirisTerje]

@lennartb- Yes, the ones that apply. As @mikkelbu points out, the compatibility ones are not applicable anymore for the next 4.X version.

The current notice (in notice.txt) points to the original writers of the NUnit code that the current code is based on, with no pointers to specific code sections. For other copyright notices that should be noted.

Separate each section so that it is clear what it belongs to.
Use a format like this:

Copyright (c) [Year] [Author's/License holder Name]

The following code [specific file(s) or portion(s), with link] is used under [license name/version].

[Optionally additional details, such as license terms or any other relevant information.]

If the license is embedded in the source code, like with Options.cs, just state that. The notice should be short.

After a quick search, that file is the only one I find with a copyright notice though.

[OsirisTerje]

We also have 3rd part nuget packages that we could add. We could do that by adding a THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md file, put a reference to this file from NOTICES.txt.
The different licenses can be extracted using dotnet-project-licenses. When doing that on the framework csproj, we get the following block:

| Reference | Version | License Type | License |
|------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| IsExternalInit | 1.0.3 | MIT | https://licenses.nuget.org/MIT |
| Microsoft.Win32.Registry | 5.0.0 | MIT | https://licenses.nuget.org/MIT |
| Nullable | 1.3.1 | MIT | https://licenses.nuget.org/MIT |
| System.Runtime.Loader | 4.3.0 | MS-EULA | http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=329770 |
| TunnelVisionLabs.ReferenceAssemblyAnnotator | 1.0.0-alpha.160 | MIT | https://licenses.nuget.org/MIT |

There would then be one such block per csproj we have.

[KalleOlaviNiemitalo]

Well I was more interested in copyright notices than license notices.

[OsirisTerje]

@KalleOlaviNiemitalo Feel free :-) It's just part of the same but by all means. I assumed you or @lennartb- wanted to raise a PR on this.

PS: The license will also contain the copyright for a package, although the tool above will not add the link to the actual license file for the package, but only to the general one. It could easily be corrected.