From 2fa345ef9e340623e9625ece2ee772ad83253fc6 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Eli Barzilay <eli@barzilay.org>
Date: Wed, 2 May 2012 03:12:27 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] Revise license page with the clarification text that was sent
 on the list.

(Slightly revised.)
---
 collects/meta/web/download/download-pages.rkt | 43 ++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 36 insertions(+), 7 deletions(-)

diff --git a/collects/meta/web/download/download-pages.rkt b/collects/meta/web/download/download-pages.rkt
index a2bc67579d..f1819afdf4 100644
--- a/collects/meta/web/download/download-pages.rkt
+++ b/collects/meta/web/download/download-pages.rkt
@@ -110,15 +110,44 @@
 
 (define license
   @page[#:title "Software License" #:part-of 'download]{
-    @p{Racket is distributed under the
+    @p*{
+    @~ Racket is distributed under the
        @a[href: "http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/lgpl-2.1.html#SEC1"]{
          GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL)}.
-       This means that you can link parts of Racket (such as racket or gracket)
-       into proprietary applications, provided that you follow the specific
-       rules stated in the LGPL.  You can also modify Racket software; if you
-       distribute a modified version, you must distribute it under the terms of
-       the LGPL, which in particular means that you must release the source
-       code for the modified Racket software.}})
+    @~ Our primary goal is to help as many people as possible use and
+       contribute to Racket.  We encourage anyone to develop any kind of
+       software, with any kind of license, using Racket.
+    @~ We have chosen the LGPL as the license for Racket, which makes it
+       possible for for people to create software with Racket, and to allow us
+       to build on existing libraries that use the LGPL, such as the Lightning
+       assembler and the GMP math library.  The basic requirement of the LGPL
+       is that you make your changes to Racket available, and that you let
+       other people use your software with new versions of Racket.
+    @~ Since the LGPL license that Racket uses was originally designed for C
+       programs, parts of it require some interpretation to apply to Racket in
+       detail.  The following is how the Racket maintainers interpret the
+       license.
+    @~ @ul*{
+       @~ First, if you distribute your Racket application in source form or as
+          compiled bytecode files, the Racket license does not restrict you at
+          all.
+       @~ Second, if you distribute your Racket application as compiled binary
+          generated by @tt{raco exe}, there are no requirements placed on the
+          licensing of your software.  However, the LGPL requires that you make
+          it possible to re-link your software with modified versions of
+          Racket.  This means, basically, that you need to provide the compiled
+          bytecode files used to produce the compiled binary, if requested by
+          someone who got your software from you.  Note that this does @em{not}
+          mean that your software has to be made open source, nor do you have
+          to give the source code to anyone, nor do you have to make the
+          compiled bytecode files available to the public or let other people
+          redistribute them.  Furthermore, this is not revealing any more of
+          your source code than the @tt{raco exe} format, since the bytecode is
+          embedded in an extractable way in the resulting executable.}
+    @~ We are, of course, not lawyers, and this should not be taken as legal
+       advice.  However, we wanted to make it clear that Racket is an
+       appropriate building block for all kinds of software, and to clarify how
+       we view the license of Racket.}})
 
 (define downloader-script
   @script/inline[type: 'text/javascript]{@||