Add licenses, make it LGPLv2.1+ contributions going forward (#4219)

* Change pakcage LICENSE to GPLv3+
* Make all future contributions LGPLv2.1+

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md

@@ -10,3 +10,6 @@ PR Checklist
  - [ ] Docs?
  - [ ] CHANGELOG updated?
  - [ ] Issue raised/referenced?
+
+## Developers certificate of origin
+- [ ] I certify that this contribution is covered by the LGPLv2.1+ license as defined in our [LICENSE](https://github.com/MDAnalysis/mdanalysis/blob/develop/LICENSE) and adheres to the [**Developer Certificate of Origin**](https://developercertificate.org/).

README.rst

@@ -73,8 +73,11 @@ The latest release can be **installed via pip or conda** as
 described in the `Installation Quick Start`_.
 
 **Source code** is hosted in a git repository at
-https://github.com/MDAnalysis/mdanalysis and is available under the
-GNU General Public License, version 2 (see the file LICENSE_).
+https://github.com/MDAnalysis/mdanalysis and is packaged under the
+GNU General Public License, version 3 or any later version. Invidiual
+source code components are provided under a mixture of GPLv3+ compatible
+licenses, including LGPLv2.1+ and GPLv2+. Please see the file LICENSE_
+for more information.
 
 
 Contributing

package/CHANGELOG

@@ -29,6 +29,9 @@ Enhancements
     (Issue #3546)
 
 Changes
+  * Package license has been updated to GPLv3+ to better reflect the
+    compatibility of GPLv2+ with Apache and GPLv3 licenced codes (PR #4219).
+  * All new contributions are now made under LGPLv2.1+ (PR #4219).
   * Support for GSD is now limited to version 3.0.1 and above. Alongside this
     change, support for schema 1.3 files has been dropped (PR #4153)
   * Add definition of ts.data['time'] in LAMMPSDump Reader (Issue #3546)

package/doc/sphinx/source/index.rst

@@ -141,8 +141,10 @@ Source Code
 ===========
 
 **Source code** is available from
-https://github.com/MDAnalysis/mdanalysis/ under the `GNU Public
-Licence, version 2`_. Obtain the sources with `git`_.
+https://github.com/MDAnalysis/mdanalysis/ and is packaged under the
+`GNU Public Licence, version 3 or any later version`_. Individual components
+of the source code are provided under GPL compatible licenses, details can be
+found in the `MDAnalysis license file`_. Obtain the sources with `git`_.
 
 .. code-block:: bash
 
@@ -152,8 +154,10 @@ Licence, version 2`_. Obtain the sources with `git`_.
 The `User Guide`_ provides more information on how to
 `install the development version`_ of MDAnalysis.
 
-.. _GNU Public Licence, version 2:
-   http://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html
+.. _GNU Public Licence, version 3 or any later version:
+   https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html
+.. _MDAnalysis license file:
+   https://github.com/MDAnalysis/mdanalysis/blob/develop/LICENSE
 .. _git: https://git-scm.com/
 .. _`install the development version`: https://userguide.mdanalysis.org/stable/installation.html#development-versions
 

package/pyproject.toml

@@ -56,7 +56,7 @@ classifiers = [
     'Development Status :: 6 - Mature',
     'Environment :: Console',
     'Intended Audience :: Science/Research',
-    'License :: OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License v2 or later (GPLv2+)',
+    'License :: OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License v3 or later (GPLv3+)',
     'Operating System :: POSIX',
     'Operating System :: MacOS :: MacOS X',
     'Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows',

package/setup.py

@@ -573,7 +573,7 @@ def long_description(readme):
         'Development Status :: 6 - Mature',
         'Environment :: Console',
         'Intended Audience :: Science/Research',
-        'License :: OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License v2 or later (GPLv2+)',
+        'License :: OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License v3 or later (GPLv3+)',
         'Operating System :: POSIX',
         'Operating System :: MacOS :: MacOS X',
         'Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows ',
@@ -626,7 +626,7 @@ def long_description(readme):
                         'Twitter': 'https://twitter.com/mdanalysis',
                         'Source': 'https://github.com/mdanalysis/mdanalysis',
                         },
-          license='GPL-2.0-or-later',
+          license='GPL-3.0-or-later',
           classifiers=CLASSIFIERS,
           provides=['MDAnalysis'],
           packages=find_packages(),

testsuite/setup.py

@@ -95,7 +95,7 @@ def run(self):
         'Development Status :: 6 - Mature',
         'Environment :: Console',
         'Intended Audience :: Science/Research',
-        'License :: OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License v2 or later (GPLv2+)',
+        'License :: OSI Approved :: GNU General Public License v3 or later (GPLv3+)',
         'Operating System :: POSIX',
         'Operating System :: MacOS :: MacOS X',
         'Operating System :: Microsoft :: Windows ',
@@ -128,7 +128,7 @@ def run(self):
                         'Issue Tracker': 'https://github.com/mdanalysis/mdanalysis/issues',
                         'Source': 'https://github.com/mdanalysis/mdanalysis',
                         },
-          license='GPL-2.0-or-later',
+          license='GPL-3.0-or-later',
           classifiers=CLASSIFIERS,
           packages=find_packages(),
           package_dir={'MDAnalysisTests': 'MDAnalysisTests',