Properly, legally handle license stuff as we are still contacting peo…

…ple (nw)

README.md

@@ -23,19 +23,10 @@ The MESS and MAME projects live in the same source repository and share much of
 License
 =======
 
-MAME is Open Source project now, we are still in process of contacting all developers from past to get their wish of license.
-So far situation is that
+MAME is in the process of becoming an Open Source project. We are still in process of contacting all developers from the past.
 
-|License|Percentage|
-|---|---|
-|[BSD-3-Clause](http://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause)|86%|
-|[LGPL-2.1+](http://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1+)|3%|
-|[GPL-2.0+](http://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-2.0+)|5%|
-|not defined|6%|
-
-Please note that all files that do not have explicit license are still pending decision from authors and till they are marked with some should not be used by other prjects/forks.
-
-Since licenses are compatible but some are more permissive then others, as whole MAME will be delivered as GPL-2.0+ software. 
+Going forward, we will be using the 3-Clause BSD license for the core, and the LGPL version 2.1 or later, and the GPL version 2.0 or later, for certain drivers. As a whole, MAME will be delivered under the GPL version 2.0 or later.
+As we are still contacting developers, MAME is still distributed under the (MAME license)[docs/mamelicense.txt] as of this time. If you have not been contacted yet, and believe you have contributed code to MAME in the past, please (contact us)[mailto:[email protected]].
 
 How to compile?
 =============
@@ -82,4 +73,4 @@ MAME source code should be viewed and edited with your editor set to use four sp
 
 Some parts of the code follow [GNU style](http://www.gnu.org/prep/standards/html_node/Formatting.html); some parts of the code follow [K&R style](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indent_style#K.26R_style) -- mostly depending on who wrote the original version. **Above all else, be consistent with what you modify, and keep whitespace changes to a minimum when modifying existing source.** For new code, the majority tends to prefer GNU style, so if you don't care much, use that.
 
-All contributors need to either add standard header for license info (on new files) or send us their wish under which of licenses they would like their code to be published under :[BSD-3-Clause](http://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause) ,[LGPL-2.1+](http://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1+) or [GPL-2.0+](http://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-2.0+)
+All contributors need to either add standard header for license info (on new files) or send us their wish under which of licenses they would like their code to be published under :[BSD-3-Clause](http://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause), or for new files in mame/ or mess/, either the 3-Clause BSD license, the [LGPL-2.1+](http://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1+), or the [GPL-2.0+](http://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-2.0+).

docs/licenseinfo.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+BSD-3-Clause: http://spdx.org/licenses/BSD-3-Clause
+GPL-2.0+: http://spdx.org/licenses/GPL-2.0+
+LGPL-2.1+: http://spdx.org/licenses/LGPL-2.1+
+MAME: see docs/license.txt

docs/mamelicense.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,38 @@
+Most code in MAME is released under the following license, known as the
+MAME License.
+Some code in MAME is under a more permissive license, or dual-licensed.
+This is noted in per-file headers which specify the alternate license.
+The text of the MAME License follows.
+
+Copyright Nicola Salmoria and the MAME team
+All rights reserved.
+
+Redistribution and use of this code or any derivative works are permitted
+provided that the following conditions are met:
+
+* Redistributions may not be sold, nor may they be used in a commercial
+product or activity.
+
+* Redistributions that are modified from the original source must include the
+complete source code, including the source code for all components used by a
+binary built from the modified sources. However, as a special exception, the
+source code distributed need not include anything that is normally distributed
+(in either source or binary form) with the major components (compiler, kernel,
+and so on) of the operating system on which the executable runs, unless that
+component itself accompanies the executable.
+
+* Redistributions must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of
+conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other
+materials provided with the distribution.
+
+THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS"
+AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE
+IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
+ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE
+LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR
+CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF
+SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS
+INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN
+CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE)
+ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE
+POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE.