MCNET GUIDELINES for Event Generator Authors and Users

Most of the software produced by the MCnet members are licenced under the GNU General Public License (GPL) version 2. In addition to this, MCnet has decided to publish a set of guidelines relevant for the distribution and usage of event generator software in an academic setting.

These guidelines are distributed as a file named GUIDELINES together with the source code of the programs. We encourage all users of our programs to read through this file and to follow the guidelines within. We also encourage other authors of HEP software to adopt the guidelines for their own programs.

Applying the MCnet Guidelines

Since the guidelines are a complement to the GPL, we can take the GPL's application suggestions as a template:
[...] attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively convey the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.

For an MCnet project, one suggestion would be to place the following at the start of each source code file (C++ used as an example here, use the appropriate comment characters for other languages):

 // FooBarProduction.cc is a part of Sherpythwig++,
 // a single-purpose example generator.
 // Copyright (C) <year(s)> <name(s) of authors>
 //
 // Sherpythwig++ is licenced under version 2 (or any
 // later version) of the GPL, see COPYING for details.
 //
 // Please respect the MCnet academic usage guidelines,
 // see GUIDELINES for details.

This short text should be sufficient for the source code files. The longer variation suggested in the GPL together with author contact details could go into the README file.

Information about the GNU General Public License (GPL).