[Python-Dev] License question

[Tim Peters]

[Gustavo Niemeyer]
> I'm working on a module to handle bzip2 files and data. In the process,
> I've used some code based on fileobject.c. Considering the current
> python license, can I release this module under LGPL?

The Python license gives you the right to prepare derivative works and to
license them under any terms you like, but it does not give you the right to
*re*license those parts of your derivative work that you got from Python.
The Python license continues to apply to those:

    provided, however, that PSF's License Agreement and PSF's notice of
    copyright, i.e., "Copyright (c) 2001 Python Software Foundation; All
    Rights Reserved" are retained in ... any derivative version prepared
    by Licensee.

Ditto for the other licenses the PSF license is stacked on top of.  So you
have to retain the file full of licenses and copyrights that came with your
Python distribution.  They don't apply to the original portions of your
work, just to the portions of your work that came from the Python
distribution.

Note also:

    3. In the event Licensee prepares a derivative work that is based
    on or incorporates Python 2.2 or any part thereof, and wants to make
    the derivative work available to others as provided herein, then
    Licensee hereby agrees to include in any such work a brief summary
    of the changes made to Python 2.2.

This is to help us, you, and your users keep track of which parts of your
work are bound by the Python license, and which are bound by the license you
put on top of the stack.  Your work "as a whole" will be bound by your
license too, but the Python license doesn't allow you to forbid others to
reuse the Python *portions* of your work with the same freedom we let you
use it.

So, copy over the license file, and write a brief blurb explaining which
parts of the Python stuff is your original work.