File: autoconf.info,  Node: Distributing,  Next: Why GNU M4,  Up: FAQ

20.1 Distributing ‘configure’ Scripts
=====================================

     What are the restrictions on distributing ‘configure’
     scripts that Autoconf generates?  How does that affect my
     programs that use them?

   There are no restrictions on how the configuration scripts that
Autoconf produces may be distributed or used.  In Autoconf version 1,
they were covered by the GNU General Public License.  We still encourage
software authors to distribute their work under terms like those of the
GPL, but doing so is not required to use Autoconf.

   Of the other files that might be used with ‘configure’, ‘config.h.in’
is under whatever copyright you use for your ‘configure.ac’.
‘config.sub’ and ‘config.guess’ have an exception to the GPL when they
are used with an Autoconf-generated ‘configure’ script, which permits
you to distribute them under the same terms as the rest of your package.
‘install-sh’ is from the X Consortium and is not copyrighted.