This is the file that contains the terms of use, copying, etc. for the mpg123 distribution package. Main message, to include in "About ..." boxes, etc: Copyright (c) 1995-2020 by Michael Hipp and others, free software under the terms of the LGPL v2.1 There is an attempt to cover the actual list of authors in the AUTHORS file. Project maintainer since 2006 is Thomas Orgis and many people have contributed since the Michael Hipp era, but he stays the initial source and it would be impractical to count them all individually, so it's "and others". Source files contain the phrase "the mpg123 project" to the same effect in their license boilerplate; especially those that were added after maintainership changed. The person mainly responsible for the first version is usually named in the phrase "initially written by ...". All files in the distribution that don't carry a license note on their own are licensed under the terms of the LGPL 2.1; exceptions may apply, especially to files not in the official distribution but in the revision control repository.