Following libzmq (zeromq/libzmq#2376), I'd like to attempt to relicense away from LGPL. That issue is largely copied here, with small substitutions for BSD instead of MPLv2, but MPLv2 is left as an option.
Unlike libzmq itself, the preferred new license for pyzmq is 3-Clause BSD because the majority of pyzmq is already licensed under BSD. Only the low-level Cython bindings are licensed under LGPL as a historical artifact, so only those who have contributed to that part of pyzmq (zmq.backend.cython, zmq.core, zmq._zmq, depending on the point in history) are required to submit grants in order for this process to complete.
We are requesting contributors to send in a license grant to relicense pyzmq contributions to one of the options listed below:
- relicense to the MPLv2 or any Open Source Initiative (OSI) approved license chosen by the current pyzmq BDFL (preferred selection)
- relicense to the BSD license specifically
- relicense to the MPLv2 license specifically (only choose this if you object to permissive licenses)
If a contribution was made during working hours for an employer then we may also need a license grant (or "quit claim") from the employer.
We would like to follow a certain template as license grant to ensure all the necessary information is included. There are three templates, one for each option. Please choose the template that best represents your wishes.
The templates can be found at: https://github.com/zeromq/pyzmq/tree/HEAD/RELICENSE/templates
To include the license grant, please:
- fork the original pyzmq repository
- create a new file in the RELICENSE directory, named after your name and/or your employers name, with the license grant as content, using the template chosen
- commit this file to the repository, using the same email address as your earlier contributions
- create a pull request on pyzmq to have your license grant merged into the repository.
See the existing files in:
https://github.com/zeromq/pyzmq/tree/HEAD/RELICENSE
or this specific example: https://github.com/zeromq/pyzmq/blob/HEAD/RELICENSE/minrk.md
for a guide for how to fill out the template.
If there are any questions, don't hesitate to ask them below.