1 files changed, 46 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/contribute/HowToApplyALicense.md b/contribute/HowToApplyALicense.md
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..3ed231a6c1c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/contribute/HowToApplyALicense.md
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+# How to apply a license
+
+Originally Nextcloud was licensed under the GNU AGPLv3 only. From
+June, 16 2016 on we switched to "GNU AGPLv3 or any later version" for
+better long-term maintainability and to make it more secure from a
+legal point of view.
+
+Additionally Nextcloud doesn't require a CLA (Contributor License
+Agreement). The copyright belongs to all the individual
+contributors.
+
+If you modify an existing file, please keep the existing license header as
+it is and just add your copyright notice:
+
+````
+@copyright Copyright (c) <year>, <your name> (<your email address>)
+````
+
+If you create a new file please use this license header:
+
+````
+/**
+ * @copyright Copyright (c) <year>, <your name> (<your email address>)
+ *
+ * @license GNU AGPL version 3 or any later version
+ *
+ * This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+ * it under the terms of the GNU Affero General Public License as
+ * published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the
+ * License, or (at your option) any later version.
+ *
+ * This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+ * but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+ * MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+ * GNU Affero General Public License for more details.
+ *
+ * You should have received a copy of the GNU Affero General Public License
+ * along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+ *
+ */
+````
+
+Additionally we require a Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO), look
+at [CONTRIBUTING.md][contributing] to learn more how to sign your commits.
+
+[contributing]: https://github.com/nextcloud/server/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#sign-your-work