X-Git-Url: https://wimlib.net/git/?p=wimlib;a=blobdiff_plain;f=COPYING;h=4c7ff4cf678164e1578a7cdd64e44eb4161d1267;hp=c636ad14015acdfec898451ce5655743851de963;hb=HEAD;hpb=eb3e3b72db23ecaa7789a807afeb9577962653fe

diff --git a/COPYING b/COPYING
index c636ad14..4c7ff4cf 100644
--- a/COPYING
+++ b/COPYING
@@ -1,28 +1,27 @@
-Unless otherwise specified, wimlib and its associated programs, scripts,
-documentation, and other files may be redistributed and/or modified under the
-terms of the GNU General Public License; either version 3 of the License, or (at
-your option) any later version.  There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted
-by law.  See the file COPYING.GPLv3 for more details.
+wimlib (meaning all programs, scripts, libraries, documentation, and other files
+that are part of the wimlib project -- not just the "libwim" library) may be
+redistributed and/or modified under the terms of the GNU General Public License;
+either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.  A copy
+of this license can be found in the file COPYING.GPLv3.
 
-Moreover, when not prohibited by conflict with a third-party software license,
-the library portion of wimlib may be redistributed and/or modified under the
-terms of the GNU Lesser General Public License; either version 3 of the License,
-or (at your option) any later version.  There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent
-permitted by law.  See the file COPYING.LGPLv3 for more details.
+Also, when not prohibited by a third-party software license, libwim (the library
+portion of wimlib) may be redistributed and/or modified under the terms of the
+GNU Lesser General Public License; either version 3 of the License, or (at your
+option) any later version.  A copy of this license can be found in the file
+COPYING.LGPLv3.  This is offered as a "dual license", meaning that you can
+choose either this LGPLv3+ option or the above-mentioned GPLv3+ option.
 
-----------------------------------------
+In either case there is NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.
 
-NOTE! The primary reason for the GPL/LGPL "dual licensing" for the library is
-that on UNIX-like systems, wimlib can optionally be linked to the third-party
-library "libntfs-3g", which is licensed GPLv2+.  Under some interpretations of
-the GPL, this would require that wimlib be licensed under the GPL as well.
-However, a binary copy of wimlib that was compiled without libntfs-3g support
-(for example; the exception may be applicable in other situations as well)
-logically cannot be affected by libntfs-3g's license and should therefore be
-free to be redistributed under the LGPL instead of the GPL.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
-NOTE! The file COPYING.CC0 contains a public domain dedication.  This public
-domain dedication does not apply to wimlib as a whole, but rather to individual
-source code files which the author(s) have elected to place into the public
-domain, as noted in the corresponding file headers.  As usual, such code carries
-NO WARRANTY, to the extent permitted by law.  See COPYING.CC0 for more details.
+NOTE! The reason for the "when not prohibited by a third-party software license"
+condition on the LGPL option for libwim is that libwim can optionally be linked
+to the third-party library "libntfs-3g", which is licensed under the GPL.
+Usually the GPL is interpreted in a way that means that any binary that uses a
+GPL library must be licensed under the GPL as well, not (for example) the LGPL.
+
+Therefore, if your build of libwim links to libntfs-3g, then you can't choose
+the LGPL option.  You may choose the LGPL option for Windows builds of libwim,
+since they don't link to libntfs-3g.  Likewise, you may choose the LGPL option
+for UNIX builds of libwim that were built with './configure --without-ntfs-3g'.