Re: [gNewSense-users] Copyright, but no license: Free or not?

[Deborah Nicholson]

> > Unless there is some clear basis to argue that a free license applies
> > to these files, they are non-free.
> > 
> > I would expect that the lack of a license notice is unintentional and
> > that the developers of these files will add a license notice when they
> > see a bug report about this.

Did you ask RMS about programs with no license headers or programs that
happen to not include a copy of the license? 

If GPL headers are there, then the author has probably just forgotten to
include a copy of the license and usually a note will clear that up. If
you've got programs with no headers at all or just a smattering of BSD
and MIT, then I don't think you can assume that those programs are
free.