doc/ref/preface.texi

   1 @c -*-texinfo-*-
   2 @c This is part of the GNU Guile Reference Manual.
   3 @c Copyright (C)  1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2010, 2011
   4 @c   Free Software Foundation, Inc.
   5 @c See the file guile.texi for copying conditions.
   6
   7 @node Preface
   8 @unnumbered Preface
   9
  10 This manual describes how to use Guile, GNU's Ubiquitous Intelligent
  11 Language for Extensions.  It relates particularly to Guile version
  12 @value{VERSION}.
  13
  14 @menu
  15 * Contributors::
  16 * Guile License::
  17 @end menu
  18
  19 @node Contributors
  20 @unnumberedsec Contributors to this Manual
  21
  22 Like Guile itself, the Guile reference manual is a living entity, cared
  23 for by many people over a long period of time.  As such, it is hard to
  24 identify individuals of whom to say ``yes, this person, she wrote the
  25 manual.''
  26
  27 Still, among the many contributions, some caretakers stand out.  First
  28 among them is Neil Jerram, who has been working on this document for ten
  29 years now.  Neil's attention both to detail and to the big picture have
  30 made a real difference in the understanding of a generation of Guile
  31 hackers.
  32
  33 Next we should note Marius Vollmer's effect on this document.  Marius
  34 maintained Guile during a period in which Guile's API was
  35 clarified---put to the fire, so to speak---and he had the good sense to
  36 effect the same change on the manual.
  37
  38 Martin Grabmueller made substantial contributions throughout the manual
  39 in preparation for the Guile 1.6 release, including filling out a lot of
  40 the documentation of Scheme data types, control mechanisms and
  41 procedures.  In addition, he wrote the documentation for Guile's SRFI
  42 modules and modules associated with the Guile REPL.
  43
  44 Ludovic Court@`es and Andy Wingo, the Guile maintainers at the time of
  45 this writing (late 2010), have also made their dent in the manual,
  46 writing documentation for new modules and subsystems in Guile 2.0.  They
  47 are also responsible for ensuring that the existing text retains its
  48 relevance as Guile evolves.  @xref{Reporting Bugs}, for more information
  49 on reporting problems in this manual.
  50
  51 The content for the first versions of this manual incorporated and was
  52 inspired by documents from Aubrey Jaffer, author of the SCM system on
  53 which Guile was based, and from Tom Lord, Guile's first maintainer.
  54 Although most of this text has been rewritten, all of it was important,
  55 and some of the structure remains.
  56
  57 The manual for the first versions of Guile were largely written, edited,
  58 and compiled by Mark Galassi and Jim Blandy.  In particular, Jim wrote
  59 the original tutorial on Guile's data representation and the C API for
  60 accessing Guile objects.
  61
  62 Significant portions were also contributed by Thien-Thi Nguyen, Kevin
  63 Ryde, Mikael Djurfeldt, Christian Lynbech, Julian Graham, Gary Houston,
  64 Tim Pierce, and a few dozen more.  You, reader, are most welcome to join
  65 their esteemed ranks.  Visit Guile's web site at
  66 @uref{http://www.gnu.org/software/guile/} to find out how to get
  67 involved.
  68
  69
  70 @node Guile License
  71 @unnumberedsec The Guile License
  72 @cindex copying
  73 @cindex GPL
  74 @cindex LGPL
  75 @cindex license
  76
  77 Guile is Free Software.  Guile is copyrighted, not public domain, and
  78 there are restrictions on its distribution or redistribution, but
  79 these restrictions are designed to permit everything a cooperating
  80 person would want to do.
  81
  82 @itemize @bullet
  83 @item
  84 The Guile library (libguile) and supporting files are published under
  85 the terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License version 3 or later.
  86 See the files @file{COPYING.LESSER} and @file{COPYING}.
  87
  88 @item
  89 The Guile readline module is published under the terms of the GNU
  90 General Public License version 3 or later.  See the file @file{COPYING}.
  91
  92 @item
  93 The manual you're now reading is published under the terms of the GNU
  94 Free Documentation License (@pxref{GNU Free Documentation License}).
  95 @end itemize
  96
  97 C code linking to the Guile library is subject to terms of that
  98 library.  Basically such code may be published on any terms, provided
  99 users can re-link against a new or modified version of Guile.
 100
 101 C code linking to the Guile readline module is subject to the terms of
 102 that module.  Basically such code must be published on Free terms.
 103
 104 Scheme level code written to be run by Guile (but not derived from
 105 Guile itself) is not restricted in any way, and may be published on any
 106 terms.  We encourage authors to publish on Free terms.
 107
 108 You must be aware there is no warranty whatsoever for Guile.  This is
 109 described in full in the licenses.
 110
 111
 112 @c Local Variables:
 113 @c TeX-master: "guile.texi"
 114 @c End: