From 5d195868f9486d934850cd72bd597f5ed4d29d8b Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Jim Blandy Date: Thu, 23 Sep 1999 05:36:00 +0000 Subject: [PATCH] Add explanation of licensing issues to the description of the readline interface. --- NEWS | 20 ++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 20 insertions(+) diff --git a/NEWS b/NEWS index a007376e5..3a1e3908e 100644 --- a/NEWS +++ b/NEWS @@ -67,6 +67,26 @@ to activate readline is now This should work at any time, including from the guile prompt. +To avoid confusion about the terms of Guile's license, please only +enable readline for your personal use; please don't make it the +default for others. Here is why we make this rather odd-sounding +request: + +Guile is normally licensed under a weakened form of the GNU General +Public License, which allows you to link code with Guile without +placing that code under the GPL. This exception is important to some +people. + +However, since readline is distributed under the GNU General Public +License, when you link Guile with readline, either statically or +dynamically, you effectively change Guile's license to the strict GPL. +Whenever you link any strictly GPL'd code into Guile, uses of Guile +which are normally permitted become forbidden. This is a rather +non-obvious consequence of the licensing terms. + +So, to make sure things remain clear, please let people choose for +themselves whether to link GPL'd libraries like readline with Guile. + ** regexp-substitute/global has changed slightly, but incompatibly. If you include a function in the item list, the string of the match -- 2.20.1