Copyright, GPLv3, and distributions

OpenChronology first-party software and documentation are copyright (c) 2026 Athan Clark, an individual, and licensed GPL-3.0-only. See LICENSE for the unmodified GPLv3 text and NOTICE for scope and attribution. The FSF copyright on the license text is not ownership of OpenChronology. The official first-party plugins are included under this same software license.

The application deployed at timescale.info uses this license. Domain registration, names, and endorsement are distinct from licensing the code. Users retain their content copyright; a public timeline is not automatically GPL-licensed. Hosted policies are separate terms, privacy, and reporting drafts. Finish operator details before adopting them. No nonprofit or automatic future assignment is assumed.

Third-party licenses remain in effect. Do not replace vendor license files or upstream authors' attribution with Athan's name. The independently published rational-map, sqlite-rational, and rational-conformance projects retain their own licenses; historical projects in the enclosing workspace are not relicensed by this application's notice. Compatible permissively licensed components may be included in the GPL application without changing the licenses on those components.

Source and releases

Serving downloaded browser JavaScript or an offline HTML editor distributes object code. Ship the full license, notices, and matching Corresponding Source; minified JavaScript alone is not preferred source. Likewise distribute matching source with desktop binaries and container images. GPLv3 does not impose AGPL's network-only source requirement on server code that is merely run privately, but distributed server/container software has its own distribution obligations.

The normal web build creates and serves /openchronology-web-source.tar.gz and links it from the notices. The container build adds its native converter dependency sources to that same archive. Standalone HTML embeds notices without source/network links; publish its matching archive beside the download.

Build the web/standalone source snapshot from the same checkout as the binary:

npm ci
npm run build
npm run build:source

This produces dist/openchronology-web-source.tar.gz, including the first-party sources, pinned dependency archives, SQLite extension sources, lockfiles, legal notices, and preferred sources for the JavaScript bundled into the browser. pnpm and Yarn can run the same scripts. The allowlist excludes .env, credentials, databases, local exports, git metadata, and compiler outputs. Source-map recovery of the pinned map library preserves its original TypeScript and MIT attribution.

For desktop or native converter distributions, also run:

npm run build:source:desktop

This additionally vendors the locked Rust dependencies from both Cargo manifests and writes an archive-local Cargo configuration. Cargo may need network access to download source packages. Source is packaged from the current checkout; create it for each release rather than reusing an archive from another version. CI attaches web source alongside HTML and native source alongside the Linux package. Publish these source archives alongside the matching release downloads with equivalent access and retain them for the release's availability. Do not publish secrets through ad hoc whole-directory archives.

The PostgreSQL Dockerfile already includes its precise pgmp.tar.gz source and LGPL/GPL notices under /usr/share/doc/pgmp. Preserve those when distributing the image and supply any other non-system component sources required by their licenses. The OpenChronology archive alone is not a complete source distribution for the separate PostgreSQL image. System-library exceptions and each dependency's own requirements must be checked for the actual artifact. A public repository URL alone must not substitute for missing preferred dependency source in a compiled distribution. Document the release commit, dependency versions, build commands, and source download location in release notes.

Contributions and license changes

Contributions to the first-party application should be submitted under GPL-3.0-only with the contributor's own attribution. Do not claim Athan owns third-party contributions merely because he maintains the project. No copyright assignment or CLA is required by this repository. Original user scripts and timeline data are separate from contributions to application source. Previously granted MIT rights on earlier published versions cannot be revoked by this license change; new first-party releases use GPLv3.

References: GNU license application guidance, GPLv3 text, and GNU GPL FAQ.