From owner-freebsd-chat Thu May 18 20:22: 1 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 8E1E137BD89 for ; Thu, 18 May 2000 20:21:52 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in) Received: (qmail 612 invoked from network); 19 May 2000 03:21:24 -0000 Received: from theory6.physics.iisc.ernet.in (qmailr@144.16.71.126) by theory1.physics.iisc.ernet.in with SMTP; 19 May 2000 03:21:24 -0000 Received: (qmail 28521 invoked by uid 211); 19 May 2000 03:21:23 -0000 Date: Fri, 19 May 2000 08:51:23 +0530 From: Rahul Siddharthan To: "Thomas M. Sommers" Cc: chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Why are people against GNU? WAS Re: 5.0 already? Message-ID: <20000519085123.C28431@physics.iisc.ernet.in> References: <000001bfbf78$b1b345c0$021d85d1@youwant.to> <3924803C.7C5BD92C@mail.ptd.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.2i In-Reply-To: <3924803C.7C5BD92C@mail.ptd.net>; from tms2@mail.ptd.net on Thu, May 18, 2000 at 07:43:56PM -0400 X-Operating-System: Linux 2.2.15pre4 alpha X-Question: Do you enjoy reading pointless headers? Sender: owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Precedence: bulk X-Loop: FreeBSD.org Thomas M. Sommers said on May 18, 2000 at 19:43:56: > David Schwartz wrote: > > > > The GPL does state: > > > > "Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies > > of this license document, but changing it is not allowed." > > > > But this does not grant permission to apply the GPL to your works > > however you please. > > It doesn't have to. You can use it any way you want, subject to any > restrictions on use that it contains, and it contains none. In a later mail RMS confirmed that this is his own opinion. I wrote > Is it ok to license one's software under "version 2 of the GPL, and > only that version"? > > It is a bad idea, because when we have GPL version 3 and release other > programs under version 3, your program will be stuck at GPL version 2. > And it will be illegal to copy code between your program and all the > other GPL-covered programs that are released under GPL version 3. Thanks. The claim which I needed to answer was that a person who GPL's his program is forced to permit use of any later version, thus allowing the FSF more control over the licensing terms at any time in the future than he himself will ever possess. My answer (and that of some others) was basically that nobody forces you to do it but people do it out of choice. Moreover, even with the "any later version option", if the GPL 3 turns out to have some undesirable clauses, people will still have the *option* of continuing to distribute it under version 2. and he answered Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 10:27:00 -0600 (MDT) From: Richard Stallman To: rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in Subject: Re: GPL question Reply-to: rms@gnu.org My answer (and that of some others) was basically that nobody forces you to do it but people do it out of choice. That is true. Moreover, even with the "any later version option", if the GPL 3 turns out to have some undesirable clauses, people will still have the *option* of continuing to distribute it under version 2. That is true also. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message