BSD License, reference to other software

Question

Hi. Where do the reference to other softwares that my software uses(and I shipped with) and their authors?

Here is the scenario. I have this software done by the technology department of my college(IGRAFU). The software uses other softwares made by other individuals and institutions(Like Phyml and Hypertree). They are all open source and free(so they can be freely distributed). I have created a licensed this software(IGRAFU) under BSD license.

So my question is, where do I put the reference tho the authors of the softwares I use under IGRAFU?

Thanks in advance.

One software is under LGPL 2.0 another says that is under GPL 1.2 or greater(??). The other ones just say that if you use them in their software you should reference them.

How do I do that?

Answer 1

Have you rolled all of this software into yours or just referenced it? If you've rolled them in, ensure that they are able to be licensed under the BSD. Either way, you should have some sort of credits file that references them, along with their licenses if they're not rolled in.

Edit: As David Thornley said, you should also reference their copyright information along with your own.

Answer 2

The usual practice is that, wherever you put your own copyright information, put in the other copyright information. Check the license to see if there are any further requirements, as there have been more than one version of the BSD license and the earliest ones had other provisions. (No version of the BSD license is long or difficult to read.)

Answer 3

The original BSD licence (pre 99) required you to mention BSD in any advertising material. That requirement was removed for various reasons.
You should leave the BSD copyright intact in any source you distribute - other than that it would be polite to acknowledge included BSD libs in the about screen or splashscreen.

Answer 4

Just a note - if you have a GPL component you have to deal with its virality - your system has to be GPL as well.