diff --git a/INSTALL b/INSTALL
index 11faec25ef5..9a6b8896eb2 100644
--- a/INSTALL
+++ b/INSTALL
@@ -928,10 +928,10 @@ these bugs fixed, so upgrade if you can before building Emacs.
 
 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
 
-GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+GNU Emacs 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 3, or (at your option)
-any later version.
+the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+(at your option) any later version.
 
 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
@@ -939,6 +939,4 @@ 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
-along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
-Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
-Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
diff --git a/INSTALL.CVS b/INSTALL.CVS
index 2ece25a73b7..b8c42de27d5 100644
--- a/INSTALL.CVS
+++ b/INSTALL.CVS
@@ -102,10 +102,10 @@ Host subversions.gnu.org
 
 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
 
-GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+GNU Emacs 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 3, or (at your option)
-any later version.
+the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+(at your option) any later version.
 
 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
@@ -113,6 +113,4 @@ 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
-along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
-Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
-Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
diff --git a/Makefile.in b/Makefile.in
index 8307c9d4ce9..f298a7dd2b8 100644
--- a/Makefile.in
+++ b/Makefile.in
@@ -8,10 +8,10 @@
 
 # This file is part of GNU Emacs.
 
-# GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# GNU Emacs 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 3, or (at your option)
-# any later version.
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
 
 # GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 # but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
@@ -19,9 +19,9 @@
 # GNU General Public License for more details.
 
 # You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-# along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to
-# the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
-# Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+# along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+### Commentary:
 
 # make all	to compile and build Emacs.
 # make install	to install it.
diff --git a/README b/README
index c9e2da34be7..43e42df83fc 100644
--- a/README
+++ b/README
@@ -96,10 +96,10 @@ list the required tools.
 
 This file is part of GNU Emacs.
 
-GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+GNU Emacs 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 3, or (at your option)
-any later version.
+the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+(at your option) any later version.
 
 GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
@@ -107,6 +107,4 @@ 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
-along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
-Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
-Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
diff --git a/config.bat b/config.bat
index 93a721bf3b2..8f93451d80b 100644
--- a/config.bat
+++ b/config.bat
@@ -6,10 +6,10 @@ rem   2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 
 rem   This file is part of GNU Emacs.
 
-rem   GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+rem   GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 rem   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-rem   the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option)
-rem   any later version.
+rem   the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+rem   (at your option) any later version.
 
 rem   GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 rem   but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
@@ -17,9 +17,8 @@ rem   MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 rem   GNU General Public License for more details.
 
 rem   You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-rem   along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
-rem   Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
-rem   Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+rem   along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
 rem   ----------------------------------------------------------------------
 rem   YOU'LL NEED THE FOLLOWING UTILITIES TO MAKE EMACS:
 rem
diff --git a/configure.in b/configure.in
index 2e3aa63edc5..7d9ee477099 100644
--- a/configure.in
+++ b/configure.in
@@ -8,20 +8,18 @@ dnl    2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
 dnl
 dnl  This file is part of GNU Emacs.
 dnl
-dnl  GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+dnl  GNU Emacs is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
 dnl  it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
-dnl  the Free Software Foundation; either version 3, or (at your option)
-dnl  any later version.
-dnl
+dnl  the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+dnl  (at your option) any later version.
+dnl  
 dnl  GNU Emacs is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
 dnl  but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
 dnl  MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
 dnl  GNU General Public License for more details.
-dnl
+dnl  
 dnl  You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
-dnl  along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
-dnl  Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
-dnl  Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+dnl  along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
 
 AC_PREREQ(2.61)dnl
 AC_INIT(emacs, 23.0.60)
diff --git a/make-dist b/make-dist
index a455fefb3ba..866b4351e9b 100755
--- a/make-dist
+++ b/make-dist
@@ -8,23 +8,22 @@
 
 # Copyright (C) 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
 #   2006, 2007, 2008  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-#
+
 # This file is part of GNU Emacs.
 #
-# GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+# GNU Emacs 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 3, or (at your option)
-# any later version.
-#
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+
 # GNU Emacs 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
-# along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
-# Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
-# Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+# along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
 
 progname="$0"
 
diff --git a/update-subdirs b/update-subdirs
index 302a8f2071a..d7e7012dadc 100755
--- a/update-subdirs
+++ b/update-subdirs
@@ -3,23 +3,22 @@
 
 # Copyright (C) 1994, 1995, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
 #   2006, 2007, 2008  Free Software Foundation, Inc.
-#
+
 # This file is part of GNU Emacs.
-#
-# GNU Emacs is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
+
+# GNU Emacs 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 3, or (at your option)
-# any later version.
-#
+# the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+# (at your option) any later version.
+
 # GNU Emacs 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
-# along with GNU Emacs; see the file COPYING.  If not, write to the
-# Free Software Foundation, Inc., 51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor,
-# Boston, MA 02110-1301, USA.
+# along with GNU Emacs.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
 
 cd $1
 for file in *; do