License of c99 and std-gnu11 modules

[Reuben Thomas]

Would it be possible to relax the licenses on these modules so they can be
used with the --lgpl option to gnulib-tool? "GPLed build tool" would seem
appropriate.

[Bruno Haible]

Hi Reuben, all,

Post by Reuben Thomas
Would it be possible to relax the licenses on these modules so they can be
used with the --lgpl option to gnulib-tool? "GPLed build tool" would seem
appropriate.

Per https://www.gnu.org/software/gnulib/manual/html_node/Copyright.html,
when a modules has no dependencies and consists only of m4/*.m4 files,
the 'License' field in the module description is semantically a no-op.

However, for gnulib-tool it makes a difference: If the license is
'GPLed build tool' or 'public domain' or 'unlimited' or
'unmodifiable license text' or 'LGPLv2+', any project that passes
--lgpl=2 can use it, whereas if it's 'LGPL' or 'GPL', gnulib-tool
gives an 'incompatible license on modules' error.

The following modules are in this category: they have no dependencies,
consist only of m4/*.m4 files, and have a license that is not
'GPLed build tool' or 'unlimited'.

Module Current license

absolute-header LGPLv2+
ansi-c++-opt LGPLv2+
assert GPL
builtin-expect LGPLv2+
config-h LGPL
configmake LGPLv2+
d-ino GPL
d-type LGPLv2+
double-slash-root LGPLv2+
extensions LGPLv2+
fpieee LGPLv2+
host-os GPL
largefile LGPLv2+
link-follow GPL
longlong GPL
no-c++ LGPL
openmp LGPL
perl GPL
printf-safe LGPLv2+
rmdir-errno GPL
socketlib LGPLv2+
std-gnu11 GPL
unlink-busy GPL
uptime GPL
va-args LGPL
vararrays LGPL
winsz-termios GPL
year2038 LGPLv2+

'std-gnu11' (and 'c99' with it) could IMO really be 'LGPLv2+' or
'unlimited' - like inline, extern-inline, warnings, extensions.

'd-ino', 'host-os', 'longlong' could IMO be switched to 'LGPL', since
they are surely useful in libraries.

Opinions?

Bruno

[Paul Eggert]

Post by Bruno Haible
'std-gnu11' (and 'c99' with it) could IMO really be 'LGPLv2+' or
'unlimited' - like inline, extern-inline, warnings, extensions.
'd-ino', 'host-os', 'longlong' could IMO be switched to 'LGPL', since
they are surely useful in libraries.
Opinions?

Yes, thanks, those license changes all sound good to me.

[Jim Meyering]

Post by Paul Eggert

Post by Bruno Haible
'std-gnu11' (and 'c99' with it) could IMO really be 'LGPLv2+' or
'unlimited' - like inline, extern-inline, warnings, extensions.
'd-ino', 'host-os', 'longlong' could IMO be switched to 'LGPL', since
they are surely useful in libraries.
Opinions?

Yes, thanks, those license changes all sound good to me.

Good catch. I agree, too.

[Bruno Haible]

Post by Jim Meyering

Post by Paul Eggert
Yes, thanks, those license changes all sound good to me.

Good catch. I agree, too.

Thanks for the rapid approvals. Done:


2017-08-04 Bruno Haible <***@clisp.org>

Relax the license of some modules with no runtime code.
* modules/std-gnu11 (License): Set to 'unlimited'.
* modules/c99 (License): Likewise.
Reported by Reuben Thomas <***@sc3d.org>.
* modules/d-ino (License): Set to 'LGPL'.
* modules/host-os (License): Likewise.
* modules/longlong (License): Likewise.

diff --git a/modules/c99 b/modules/c99
index b6a9348..6e37ba0 100644
--- a/modules/c99
+++ b/modules/c99
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Makefile.am:
Include:

License:
-GPL
+unlimited

Maintainer:
all
diff --git a/modules/d-ino b/modules/d-ino
index a83f3d9..e8d6aba 100644
--- a/modules/d-ino
+++ b/modules/d-ino
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Makefile.am:
Include:

License:
-GPL
+LGPL

Maintainer:
Jim Meyering
diff --git a/modules/host-os b/modules/host-os
index 12692db..fe4b254 100644
--- a/modules/host-os
+++ b/modules/host-os
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ Makefile.am:
Include:

License:
-GPL
+LGPL

Maintainer:
Paul Eggert, Jim Meyering
diff --git a/modules/longlong b/modules/longlong
index 5b73e93..a5d2b70 100644
--- a/modules/longlong
+++ b/modules/longlong
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ AC_REQUIRE([AC_TYPE_LONG_LONG_INT])
AC_REQUIRE([AC_TYPE_UNSIGNED_LONG_LONG_INT])

License:
-GPL
+LGPL

Maintainer:
Ben Pfaff
diff --git a/modules/std-gnu11 b/modules/std-gnu11
index c04d731..26c7115 100644
--- a/modules/std-gnu11
+++ b/modules/std-gnu11
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ Makefile.am:
Include:

License:
-GPL
+unlimited

Maintainer:
all

[Reuben Thomas]

Post by Jim Meyering

Post by Paul Eggert
Yes, thanks, those license changes all sound good to me.

Good catch. I agree, too.

​Thanks very much, all!​