While that is true (and I agree in principle), I'm actually fairly sure that a promise "the current license is GPLv3" is as legally binding as actually putting

While that is true (and I agree in principle), I'm actually fairly sure that a promise "the current license is GPLv3" is as legally binding as actually putting the license file in the repo -- since it's a statement by the copyright holder of the licensing. The wording wasn't "we might license it under X", or "I'm considering licensing it under X". The exact wording is: > I'll have a license added tonight at some point. It will be GNU GPLv3. Which to me reads as "I'll have a license [file] added tonight...". But meh, that's for courts to decide not random people on the internet cosplaying as lawyers. EDIT: This is all moot anyway because the author did end up using GPLv3[1]. [1]: https://github.com/bitwarden/core/blob/master/LICENSE.txt https://github.com/bitwarden/core/blob/master/LICENSE.txt