Messages in this thread | | | Date | Thu, 28 Sep 2006 17:46:12 +0200 | From | Björn Steinbrink <> | Subject | Re: GPLv3 Position Statement |
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On 2006.09.28 17:20:20 +0200, Jörn Engel wrote: > On Thu, 28 September 2006 08:04:13 -0700, Linus Torvalds wrote: > > > > No. I _really_ want to clarify this, because so many people get it wrong. > > Really. > > > > The "GPLv2 only" wording is really just a clarification. You don't need it > > for the project to be "GPLv2 only". > > > > If a project says: "This code is licensed under this copyright license" > > and then goes on to quote the GPLv2, then IT IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE > > GPLv3! > > > > Or if you just say "I license my code under the GPLv2", IT IS NOT > > COMPATIBLE WITH THE GPLv3. > > And this is an area where I slightly disagree with you. While I would > hope that you were right, I can easily imagine a judge ruling that "v2 > or later" in the preamble means that the project just signed a blank > license of the FSF's discretion.
The preamble does not say "v2 or later", that's only in "How To" section which is not part of the terms and conditions. But section 9 is even worse than "v2 or later". Linus' second exmaple is fine, it mentions v2 and therefore it actually is v2 only. But the first one means _any_ GPL version, even older versions, as it does not mention any version and section 9 says "If the Program does not specify a version number of this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation." ouch!
Björn
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