This is Debian GNU/Linux's prepackaged version of the FSF's GNU Readline library. This package was put together by Matthias Klose , derived from the bash package by Guy Maor , from the GNU sources at ftp.gnu.org:/pub/gnu/readline/readline-5.2.tar.gz. Upstream Authors: Chet Ramey Jeff Solomon (examples/excallback.c) Harold Levy (examples/rl-fgets.c) Juergen Weigert (examples/rlfe) Michael Schroeder (examples/rlfe) Oliver Laumann (examples/rlfe) Copyright: Copyright (C) 1987-2009 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Copyright (C) 1999 Jeff Solomon (examples/excallback.c) Copyright (C) 2003-2004 Harold Levy (examples/rl-fgets.c) Copyright (C) 1993-2002 Juergen Weigert (examples/rlfe) Copyright (C) 1993-2002 Michael Schroeder (examples/rlfe) Copyright (C) 1987 Oliver Laumann (examples/rlfe) License: The GNU Readline Library is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later version. The GNU Readline Library is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License with your Debian GNU/Linux system, in /usr/share/common-licenses/GPL, or with the Debian GNU/Linux bash source package as the file COPYING. If not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, A 02110-1301, USA. On Debian systems, the complete text of the GNU General Public License can be found in `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-3'. The Debian packaging is: Copyright (C) 1999-2011 Matthias Klose and is licensed under the GPL version 2, see `/usr/share/common-licenses/GPL-2'.