Changing top level files and include/ files over to GPLv3

Nick Clifton nickc@redhat.com
Thu Jul 12 10:14:00 GMT 2007


Hi Geoff,

> I presume this will include files licensed with an exception, 

I had intended to files with license exceptions, but that has now 
changed.  The GCC Steering Committee has decided to leave such files 
alone (for now), so I will not change them.

> like include/demangle.h.

I was not aware that this file had an exception.  Looking at its 
copyright header I do not see the exception listed.  Can you tell me 
where I can find it ?

> Some time before you do this, could you post the exact wording so I
> can have legal people look at it?

Do you mean the wording of the copyright header in the file or the 
wording of the GPLv3 ?  The wording of the header would look like this:

/* Defs for interface to demanglers.
    Copyright 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002,
    2003, 2004, 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc.

    This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
    the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, 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 General Public License for more details.

    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
    along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software
    Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street - Fifth Floor,
    Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.  */

This incorperates two changes to the header as it currently exists in 
demangle.h:

   * The year 2007 has been added to the list of copyright years.
   * "version 3" is used in place of "version 2" in the second paragraph.

The GPLv3 can be found in $src/bfd/COPYING.

Possibly however you are thinking of the exception listed in the 
copyright header of the include/libiberty.h file ?

    Note - certain prototypes declared in this header file are for
    functions whose implementation copyright does not belong to the
    FSF.  Those prototypes are present in this file for reference
    purposes only and their presence in this file should not construed
    as an indication of ownership by the FSF of the implementation of
    those functions in any way or form whatsoever.

I am not going to be changing this file, but my assumption would be that 
this paragraph would remain intact and in place, if/when libiberty.h is 
upgraded to GPLv3.

Cheers
   Nick




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