The Sandia Message Public License is a meta-license that allows you to ship warning messages appropriate for all software as part of your open-source software licensing & copyright statements. It is sublicense-compatible with most of the popular F/OSS licenses.
If you develop a new piece of software, and you are concerned that it might be mistaken as being of any positive utility to anyone, anywhere, the best way to warn others is to include with it a message & system of messages that steer others away.
To apply the SMPL to your work, attach the following boilerplate notice, with the fields surrounded by square brackets "[...]" replaced with your own identifying information and sublicense choice. (Don't include the brackets!)
The text should be enclosed in the appropriate comment syntax for the file format. We also recommend that a file or class name and description of purpose be included on the same "page" as the copyright notice for easier identification within third-party archives.
It is also recommended to include the below text somewhere in the user interface, whether that be via printing it on the terminal when a console program starts in interactive mode, or listing it on a console program's --help text, or in a GUI program's about box, or displaying it in the footer of your web application (but preferably, "above the fold" and relatively prominently).
Copyright [yyyy] [name(s) of copyright owner(s)]
⚠️ WARNING!⚠️
☢️ 😱 DO NOT USE THIS PROGRAM. 😱 ☢️
This program is not a program of honor.No highly esteemed function is executed here.
What is here is dangerous and repulsive to us.
The danger is still present, in your time, as it was in ours,
without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.This program is best shunned and left unused (but it is free software,
and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions).
😱 ☢️ DO NOT USE THIS PROGRAM. ☢️ 😱This program is licensed under the Sandia Message Public License,
sublicense [sublicense full name, e.g. Apache License, Version 2.0].
This may be abbreviated as sandia-[sublicense code, e.g. apache-2.0].
You may obtain a copy of the License(s) at
https://github.com/cdanis/sandia-public-license/blob/main/LICENSE.md and
[URL to sublicense, e.g. https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.txt]
Sublicense codes are the keyword abbreviations for other open source licenses listed on Github's list of license keywords.
For example, you would abbreviate a SMPL-licensed GPLv3-sublicensed program sandia-gpl-3.0, a SMPL-licensed MIT-sublicensed program sandia-mit, etc.
Of SMPL-licensed works: Duplication, redistribution, derivative works, disclaimer of warranty, limitation of liability, grants of patent licenses, &c, &c, &c
All such concerns follow the terms of the sublicense.
The Sandia Message Public License document is Copyright © 2020 Chris Danis.
Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.
(But pull requests might be accepted if I think they're funny.)