README: Add "Copyright and license" section.

[libsigrokdecode.git] / README

diff --git a/README b/README
index a61a4a6e1e45344a41293e352849efec02ece176..5e807aba3c1d2f96da8a68fc99a2a2e795e71714 100644 (file)
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -3,14 +3,27 @@ README
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
 The sigrok project aims at creating a portable, cross-platform,
-Free/Libre/Open-Source logic analyzer software that supports various
-logic analyzer hardware products.
+Free/Libre/Open-Source signal analysis software suite that supports various
+device types (such as logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, multimeters, and more).
 
 libsigrokdecode is a shared library written in C which provides the basic
 API for running sigrok protocol decoders. The protocol decoders themselves
 are written in Python.
 
 
+Status
+------
+
+libsigrokdecode is in a usable state and has had official tarball releases.
+
+While the API can change from release to release, this will always be
+properly documented and reflected in the package version number and
+in the shared library / libtool / .so-file version numbers.
+
+However, there are _NO_ guarantees at all for stable APIs in git snapshots!
+Distro packagers should only use released tarballs (no git snapshots).
+
+
 Requirements
 ------------
 
@@ -21,7 +34,7 @@ Requirements
  - automake >= 1.11
  - libtool
  - pkg-config >= 0.22
- - libglib >= 2.28.0
+ - libglib >= 2.24.0
  - Python >= 3.0
 
 
@@ -30,8 +43,8 @@ Building and installing
 
 In order to get the libsigrokdecode source code and build it, run:
 
- $ git clone git://sigrok.git.sourceforge.net/gitroot/sigrok/sigrok
- $ cd sigrok/libsigrokdecode
+ $ git clone git://sigrok.org/libsigrokdecode
+ $ cd libsigrokdecode
  $ ./autogen.sh
  $ ./configure
  $ make
@@ -40,12 +53,30 @@ For installing libsigrokdecode:
 
  $ make install
 
-Please see the following wiki pages for more detailed instructions:
+See INSTALL or the following wiki page for more (OS-specific) instructions:
+
+ http://sigrok.org/wiki/Building
+
+
+Copyright and license
+---------------------
+
+libsigrokdecode is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License
+(GPL), version 3 or later.
+
+The protocol decoders (PDs) included in libsigrokdecode are an integral part
+of the shared library (they are not merely external "plugins", they are not
+external programs that libsigrokdecode calls via fork/exec, they cannot
+function standalone without libsigrokdecode at all, the PDs and the rest of
+the libsigrokdecode codebase share data structures and make function calls
+to each other). Thus, since the PDs are part of the library, they are also
+licensed under the terms of the GPLv3+.
+
+While some individual source code files are licensed under the GPLv2+, and
+some files are licensed under the GPLv3+, this doesn't change the fact that
+the library as a whole is licensed under the terms of the GPLv3+.
 
- http://sigrok.org/wiki/Linux
- http://sigrok.org/wiki/Mac_OS_X
- http://sigrok.org/wiki/Windows
- http://sigrok.org/wiki/FreeBSD
+Please see the individual source files for the full list of copyright holders.
 
 
 Mailing lists
@@ -66,5 +97,5 @@ You can find the sigrok developers in the #sigrok IRC channel on Freenode.
 Website
 -------
 
-http://sigrok.org
+ http://sigrok.org/wiki/Libsigrokdecode