Why
Sire has been GPL since the beginning, for two reasons. Some of our original dependencies were GPL themselves, so we had no choice. And as a community project we wanted improvements to be shared back rather than kept private.
The first reason no longer applies: all of the GPL code and dependencies have now been removed or replaced on the feature_lgpl branch, and everything we link to or bundle is LGPL-compatible. So we are no longer required to be GPL. (The branch currently removes GPL dependencies, but leaves the license and headers intact.)
We think the LGPL is the right choice. It keeps the copyleft on Sire itself (changes to Sire must still be shared) but lets other projects use Sire without their own licence being dictated by ours. In practice the GPL has become a barrier to people using and building on Sire, including collaborators in our own community, and this change removes it. It also applies to our own downstream tools, which currently inherit the GPL from Sire; with LGPL we can choose the most appropriate licence for each project.
The target is LGPLv3 or later. Our dependencies (Qt, TBB) mean the shipped binaries are effectively LGPLv3, which is the same situation as today under GPLv3.
What needs to happen
Relicensing needs the agreement of the copyright holders. There is no CLA, and copyright rests with the individual authors, so we need agreement from everyone who has contributed non-trivial code that is still in Sire. The list is below.
If you are on it, and agree to this change, please reply to this issue with the following pledge:
I, [full name], am a copyright holder of my contributions to Sire and I agree that they may be relicensed under the LGPLv3 or later.
You keep your copyright. This issue will serve as the record of agreement.
Once everyone has replied we will update the licence files, source headers and documentation, and make the change in the next release.
Concerns and discussion
If you have questions or reservations about any of this, please raise them here, that is what this issue is for. If you would rather talk outside GitHub, feel free to email us.
Thanks
Thank you to everyone on this list, and to everyone else who has contributed to Sire over the years. The project exists because of your work, and the whole point of this change is to make sure it can be used as widely as possible.
Why
Sire has been GPL since the beginning, for two reasons. Some of our original dependencies were GPL themselves, so we had no choice. And as a community project we wanted improvements to be shared back rather than kept private.
The first reason no longer applies: all of the GPL code and dependencies have now been removed or replaced on the
feature_lgplbranch, and everything we link to or bundle is LGPL-compatible. So we are no longer required to be GPL. (The branch currently removes GPL dependencies, but leaves the license and headers intact.)We think the LGPL is the right choice. It keeps the copyleft on Sire itself (changes to Sire must still be shared) but lets other projects use Sire without their own licence being dictated by ours. In practice the GPL has become a barrier to people using and building on Sire, including collaborators in our own community, and this change removes it. It also applies to our own downstream tools, which currently inherit the GPL from Sire; with LGPL we can choose the most appropriate licence for each project.
The target is LGPLv3 or later. Our dependencies (Qt, TBB) mean the shipped binaries are effectively LGPLv3, which is the same situation as today under GPLv3.
What needs to happen
Relicensing needs the agreement of the copyright holders. There is no CLA, and copyright rests with the individual authors, so we need agreement from everyone who has contributed non-trivial code that is still in Sire. The list is below.
If you are on it, and agree to this change, please reply to this issue with the following pledge:
You keep your copyright. This issue will serve as the record of agreement.
Once everyone has replied we will update the licence files, source headers and documentation, and make the change in the next release.
Concerns and discussion
If you have questions or reservations about any of this, please raise them here, that is what this issue is for. If you would rather talk outside GitHub, feel free to email us.
Thanks
Thank you to everyone on this list, and to everyone else who has contributed to Sire over the years. The project exists because of your work, and the whole point of this change is to make sure it can be used as widely as possible.