GPL-Compliant Legal Notices & Author Attribution: FSF Guidelines for Free Software

February 10, 2026 Rachel Kim – Technology Editor Technology

Summary of GPLv2 & GPLv3 regarding user Interface Notices & Attributions

This text details how the GNU General public Licenses (GPLv2 and GPLv3) address the display of legal notices and author attributions,notably within interactive software and web applications. Here’s a breakdown of the key points:

Core Principle: Both GPLv2 and GPLv3 aim to protect certain user interface notices, but this protection isn’t absolute and doesn’t apply to all notices.

GPLv2 (Section 2(c)):

* Requires modified interactive programs to display legal notices.
* Allows modification of how and where these notices are displayed, as long as they are displayed somewhere.
* Includes an exception: if the original program doesn’t normally display such notices, modifications aren’t required to either.

GPLv3 (Sections 5(d) & 7(b)):

* Introduces the term “Appropriate Legal Notices” (ALNs), which include copyright notices (copyright symbol/word, year, copyright holder) and information about warranty disclaimers and licence conveyance.
* Requires interactive user interfaces to display ALNs, mirroring GPLv2’s approach. Again, an exception exists if the original program’s interfaces didn’t display ALNs.
* Crucially, Section 7(b) allows developers to require preservation of “specified reasonable legal notices or author attributions” within the ALNs. This is a key difference from GPLv2. The rationale behind this is to allow for reasonable requests for attribution.

What’s Allowed vs. Not Allowed:

* Allowed: Modifying the placement and format of ALNs/legal notices. Moving notices from every page to an “about” page is a valid example.
* Allowed (GPLv3 only): Requiring the retention of reasonable author attributions or legal notices as part of the ALNs.
* Not Allowed: Adding requirements beyond those specified in the GPL (especially under GPLv2) to retain links or logos as a condition of the license.These can be requested, but not enforced as a license requirement.

In essence: GPLv3 provides more versatility for developers to request attribution, while both versions prioritize the user’s ability to modify how notices are displayed, provided that they are displayed in some form if the original program did so.