GPL Question

I downloaded a script which uses the GPL. This is in the script's header:

// Please note that the GPL states that any headers in files and
// Copyright notices as well as credits in headers, source files
// and output (screens, prints, etc.) can not be removed.
// You can extend them with your own credits, though...

It's my understanding that only the header credits are required by the GPL. Is this true? If this is the wrong place to ask, please point me in the right direction

The credits and copyright notices are both required. But when it says that the "output cannot be removed," the person who wrote that is wrong. The GPL specifically guarantees you the right to change, add, or remove any of the code (including output statements) as you see fit.

Moved from Linux Help, since this concerns copyright law (the GNU General Public License) and not issues specifically with Linux.

Of course, you must take into account that you cannot claim that the code is entirely yours, simply by removing the part that displays the original copyright notice. That makes it STEALING and ILLEGAL by current copyright laws. As long as you make it known publicly somewhere that the script being used is a derivative of a GPL work, you should be fine. It is considered good form to provide at least a link back to the original project. DISCLAIMER: I'm not a lawyer, so I may be completely wrong here.

http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html