Add note about licensing to README.md #81
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Picard itself is licensed under the GPLv2 which means that any plugins written specifically for Picard might be argued to be under GPLv2 themselves due to GPLv2's viral nature, either due to being derived from Picard to some extent, or due to linking to Picard at runtime. To avoid any legal issues (and to make sure we have the rights to distribute and change plugins for the future) the added sentence declares that new plugins to the repository should be under a GPLv2-compatible license (ie., a license "more free" than GPLv2 is also acceptable). Also, be declaring it as "new plugins" the statement is "grandfathering" plugins already in the repository. Ideally these plugins should eventually get sorted out (see also metabrainz#5 ), but this should at least be something we can point new contributors to so we don't make the current license mess worse. :)
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Picard itself is licensed under the GPLv2 which means that any plugins written specifically for Picard might be argued to be under GPLv2 themselves due to GPLv2's viral nature, either due to being derived from Picard to some extent, or due to linking to Picard at runtime.
To avoid any legal issues (and to make sure we have the rights to distribute and change plugins for the future) the added sentence declares that new plugins to the repository should be under a GPLv2-compatible license (ie., a license "more free" than GPLv2 is also acceptable).
Also, be declaring it as "new plugins" the statement is "grandfathering" plugins already in the repository. Ideally these plugins should eventually get sorted out (see also #5 ), but this should at least be something we can point new contributors to so we don't make the current license mess worse. :)