The Mercurial license is GPLv2

[Matt Mackall]

On Mon, 2008-08-04 at 14:41 +0200, Manlio Perillo wrote:
> Martin Geisler ha scritto:
> > Manlio Perillo <manlio_perillo at libero.it> writes:
> > 
> >> Matt Mackall ha scritto:
> >>> All the core source is marked as GPLv2-only by referencing only
> >>> COPYING and not allowing for later versions. Some small parts of it
> >>> are available on their own under GPLv2+:
> >> [...]
> >>
> >> This is a big problem for me, what should I do? I think that GPL is
> >> a good license for a "program", but it is a "bad" license for a
> >> library.
> > 
> > The goal of the GPL is to ensure that the amount of free software
> > grows, 
> > and so it requires you to either change your license to GPL too
> > or to stop using Mercurial as a library.
> > 
> 
> Since I don't want to release wsgix under GPL, I'm thinking to release 
> flatpages as a separate package.
> 
> But I would really like if the core Mercurial API can be released under 
> a BSD like licence.
> 
> By core API I mean the modules revlog, changelog, filelog, manifest, 
> transaction and lock.
> 
> Is this possible?

Typically relicensing is done by finding all past contributors and
asking them if the new license is acceptable. And I already know one
person who would object before asking anyone. I for one am not a fan of
the BSD license. I would be very disappointed to see a company like
Apple come along, pick up Mercurial, make a bunch of shiny improvements,
then force me to pay for it if I wanted a copy.

-- 
Mathematics is the supreme nostalgia of our time.