Could anyone give me some insight into the implications of removing the GPL headers from Javascript frameworks and their plugins when used in a commercial website?
We are using a minifier and combiner tool to produce one script. The only problem is the GPL license on the combined files will be larger than the source!
Are there legal repercussions for excluding the headers, or trimming them down to just the author name, copyright, year?
Besides the copyright statement you also need to mention the license it is distributed under. In that case you should be legally safe (IANAL), but it is still frowned upon by the purists.
The following template should be enough:
/* Copyright [Year] [Name] - Licensed under: GNU Public License 2.1 or later */
To fully comply to the GPL you only have to offer the source (i.e. uncompressed/minified code) when requested. This is independent from the whole compression/minifying.
IANAL, but I think if you put a short copyright statement in there with the name of the copyright holder, the full name of the license (GPL), and a link to the GPL text, you will probably be all right.
Using common sense, I'd say minified JS should be treated similarly to compiled code, ie removing the headers should be fine as long as you mention the license on the page and make the un-minified source available in case of modifications.
If you want to make sure you're in the clear, you might want to consult a lawyer or drop a mail at [email protected].