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I think I may need to revisit this, out of curiousity if nothing else.

Is it allowed to remove the license information from minified js and css files if those files are generated with a sourcemap that points to the unminified source and all files (that have licenses) are available?

I ask because when I minify several files, I find that most of the size I cannot reduce comes from carrying over all the license information. I can see that, for the browser function and download, it may be possible to get away with just the smallest minified source, however that file would be used only by the browser to render. If the console is opened, the sourcemap would be downloaded to point the inquiring user to the unminified source and preserve the requirement of having the original license be intact and available upon request.

Specifically, the Apache License 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0), MIT license (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_License), and the GPLv2 (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html) to start.

RKichenama
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    As far as I can tell, this is a legal question, not a programming question: "***Is it legal to*** include licensing/copyright notices only in a corresponding sourcemap, rather than in a minified file itself?" It's good question (I'm certainly curious) but it is likely out of scope for Stack Overflow. If the [Open Source Stack Exchange proposal](http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/82234/open-source) get enough comitters to go to beta, your question might be on-topic there. – apsillers Apr 10 '15 at 15:12
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it asks for a help with a legal concern, rather than a technical problem. A typical user (without a law degree) will not be able to provide an answer with a reasonable degree of confidence. – apsillers Apr 10 '15 at 18:37
  • I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because its a legal matter. – Dale K Jan 23 '19 at 06:31

2 Answers2

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As far as I know, a file should contain or refer to it’s license. Either way, I wouldn’t risk it. I wouldn’t worry about the comment though. They’re generally not that long.

Tim S.
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Source maps are relatively new and certainly not supported on older browsers. For example IE 10 and earlier don't support them. It's likely that you would be in violation of the terms of the license on at least some browsers.

dgvid
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  • While I am aware that older browsers would not support sourcemaps, reasonable effort was put forth to make and keep the information available and an older browser would constitute a means, chosen by the user, to limit the ability to review that information. – RKichenama Apr 10 '15 at 15:50