From owner-freebsd-chat Mon May 15 16:23:28 2000 Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from theory1.physics.iisc.ernet.in (theory1.physics.iisc.ernet.in [144.16.71.20]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 7B25B37B95A for ; Mon, 15 May 2000 16:23:20 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in) Received: (qmail 61774 invoked from network); 15 May 2000 23:23:04 -0000 Received: from theory7.physics.iisc.ernet.in (qmailr@144.16.71.127) by theory1.physics.iisc.ernet.in with SMTP; 15 May 2000 23:23:04 -0000 Received: (qmail 8670 invoked by uid 211); 15 May 2000 23:23:02 -0000 Date: Tue, 16 May 2000 04:53:02 +0530 From: Rahul Siddharthan To: David Schwartz Cc: Anatoly Vorobey , Neil Blakey-Milner , chat@freebsd.org Subject: Re: RE: Why are people against GNU? WAS Re: 5.0 already? Message-ID: <20000516045301.C8613@physics.iisc.ernet.in> References: <20000515131558.61220@techunix.technion.ac.il> <002501bfbec1$80333b70$021d85d1@youwant.to> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2i In-Reply-To: <002501bfbec1$80333b70$021d85d1@youwant.to>; from davids@webmaster.com on Mon, May 15, 2000 at 04:01:27PM -0700 X-Operating-System: Linux 2.2.14 alpha X-Question: Do you enjoy reading pointless headers? Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org > > It was stated that you, the author, didn't have a choice, and could > > not use the GPL (without modifying it) and avoid allowing your users to > > choose a later version. > > > > That statement was not true. > > If RMS publically states that he will grant permission for people to apply > the GPL with statements before or after it that modify its terms, I will > withdraw that complaint. If not, I stand by it. > > As I understand it, the GPL is a piece of property that is owned. You may > not use it any way other than the way the author permits you to. > > If Stallman grants permission solely for that particular type of > modification, then my allegation will become false, but will have been true > when it was made. There's no modification involved. The GPL version 2 is a specific document. It allows you to apply it to your software. It does not require anywhere that you should always permit replacing that license by a later version. It does, however, make clear what the situation is if the program specifies that this version "or any later version" applies to it; but this is a possibility based on what the programmer chooses to do, not a necessity. You can take the GPL, bundle it with your code, and say "this program may be distributed under version 2 of the GPL, and under no other license and no other version of the GPL." Nothing in the GPL stops you from doing that. R. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message