How do you credit open source projects correctly? [closed]

Question

I'm new to using open source libraries in production code so when it says replicate this license or whatever what is the proper way of doing it?

With desktop software is providing a readme somewhere good enough? What about for a website?

Answer 1

IANAL so none of this addresses legal requirements. The individual license will determine this and you should seek professional advice. My answer speaks only to the ethics of using open source software.

The main principle is that if you use an open source project you should credit that project in a way that could be seen but isn't invasive to your website or app. A "Powered by Python" logo on every Webpage is invasive. A paragraph with a link to the project URL on a help page is quite acceptable (imho).

Desktop applications: on the Help menu put an "About" link that describes the technologies used and gives appropriate credits. IMHO noone reads README files.

Web Sites: if they have a menu, you can do the same thing. Alternatively you can put it as a question in your FAQ. If there's no menu (or possibly in addition to that), you can put a link to that information in the footer (which is small and non-invasive). Eitehr as a separate link or on another relevant link.

Any of the credits should include a link to the project or company homepage.