[Lzip-bug] Lzlib 1.6-rc2 released

[Antonio Diaz Diaz]

Lzlib 1.6-rc2 is ready for testing here
http://download.savannah.gnu.org/releases/lzip/lzlib-1.6-rc2.tar.lz

The sha1sum is:
0829cffaf41138f1b37344e5a56330ddb99c6199  lzlib-1.6-rc2.tar.lz

Please, test it and report any bugs you find.

Lzlib is a data compression library providing in-memory LZMA compression 
and decompression functions, including integrity checking of the 
decompressed data. The compressed data format used by the library is the 
lzip format. Lzlib is written in C.

The lzip file format is designed for long-term data archiving. It is 
clean, provides very safe 4 factor integrity checking, and is backed by 
the recovery capabilities of lziprecover.

The homepage is at http://www.nongnu.org/lzip/lzlib.html


Changes in this version:

  * Minor changes have been made to the testsuite. (May perhaps affect 
non-posix systems).

  * The license has been changed to "GPL version 2 or later with link 
exception".

                                 -----

Rationale for the license change.

I have recently been shocked to know that it is apparently not legal to 
use lzlib in GPLv2 programs. Linking those programs with lzlib violates 
the GPLv2. But linking proprietary programs with lzlib is fine and legal!

This problem is not caused by any fault in lzlib's link exception; the 
LGPLv3 has the same problem. See for example 
http://nmav.gnutls.org/2013/03/the-perils-of-lgplv3.html

Of course it was never my intention to prevent GPLv2 programs from using 
lzlib. I'm sorry for any inconveniences my oversight may have caused to 
distributions, GPLv2 software projects, and users in general.

I am also ashamed of having participated in this schism of the GPL 
community. The mere proliferation of different free software licenses is 
a burden in and of itself. From now on I'll license all my projects and 
contributions in a way compatible with the GPLv2.


Regards,
Antonio Diaz, lzlib author and maintainer.