libgpg-error and gpgme: GPLed or LGPLed?

[Marcus Brinkmann]

At Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:59:59 -0600,
"Robert J. Hansen" <rjh at sixdemonbag.org> wrote:
> 
> libgpg-error and gpgme appear to be ambiguously licensed.  The COPYING
> file in the source tree is the GPL, but the comments at the top of,
> e.g., src/mkerrorcodes.c suggest that libgpg-error is meant to be
> distributed under terms of the LGPL.
> 
> It would probably be a good idea to bring the COPYING file(s) in sync
> with the license information in the source code.

The COPYING file always contains the GPL.  The LGPL is always
contained in the COPYING.LESSER (aka COPYING.LIB) file.  These are
license texts, but they are not(!) copyright notices.

The copyright notices for libgpg-error and gpgme are in the README
file and, more importantly, in each individual file.  We use many
licenses in our packages: The GPL for build tools (in libgpg-error),
with a "output is not restricted" exception a la autoconf.  The LGPL
for the main code that ends up in the binaries.  A very liberal
"attribution only" license for some text files like changelogs.

The README gives a summary of the situation for the whole package, but
it is to be read as a statement of intent and overview.  I checked the
READMEs of GPGME and libgpg-error and though they are different in
style and extent, they seem to be accurate.

Thanks,
Marcus