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0001. Licence the plugin GPL-2.0-or-later

Status: Accepted. Date: 2026-10-13.

Context

The plugin stated its licence three ways. The plugin header said GPL3+, readme.txt said GPLv3 or later and composer.json said GPL-2.0-or-later. There was no LICENSE file. The licence notice in the code, which is the grant contributors' code was submitted under, says "either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version".

Decision

The plugin is licensed GPL-2.0-or-later. The repository has a LICENSE file with the full GPL version 2 text, and the plugin header, readme.txt and composer.json all say the same. A contract test checks that they agree.

Consequences

  • Good: the licence matches the grant in the code and the WordPress.org norm.
  • Good: users can still choose GPLv3, because of "or later".
  • Bad: the plugin header and readme.txt change from GPL3+ wording, which is a visible change in 2.0.0.

Considered options

  • GPL-3.0-or-later. This was what the header and readme.txt said. It does not match the notice that contributors' code was submitted under, so it was rejected.

References

  • #124: the licence file and consistent licence statements.