[j-announce] ABCL license change

[Peter G. <pe...@ar...>]

The license for ABCL has changed.

The new license is the GPL (as before), but with a special exception to
permit use or inclusion of ABCL in other works without requiring those
works to be GPLed.

Loosely speaking, software that uses or includes ABCL "as is" does not
have to be GPLed just because it uses or includes ABCL.

This exception does not cover modifications you might make to the ABCL
code itself; such modifications are still covered by the GPL.

The exact terms of the new license are spelled out in the file LICENSE
in the src/org/armedbear/lisp directory (the file COPYING, to which it
refers, is in the root directory of the j distribution):

    The software in this package is distributed under the GNU General
    Public License (with a special exception described below).

    A copy of GNU General Public License (GPL) is included in this
    distribution, in the file COPYING.

    Linking this software statically or dynamically with other modules
    is making a combined work based on this software. Thus, the terms
    and conditions of the GNU General Public License cover the whole
    combination.

    As a special exception, the copyright holders of this software give
    you permission to link this software with independent modules to
    produce an executable, regardless of the license terms of these
    independent modules, and to copy and distribute the resulting
    executable under terms of your choice, provided that you also meet,
    for each linked independent module, the terms and conditions of the
    license of that module. An independent module is a module which is
    not derived from or based on this software. If you modify this
    software, you may extend this exception to your version of the
    software, but you are not obligated to do so. If you do not wish to
    do so, delete this exception statement from your version.

Please note that this license change applies to ABCL only (the files in
src/org/armedbear/lisp). The j editor is still licensed under the GPL,
without the aforementioned special exception.

Thanks for your support.

-Peter