> LOL > You obviously never talked to RMS :-) Hey all, normally a lurker, but...
The thing that has always concerned me about the "or any later version" clause in GPL is more long-term. I have faith in the morals/convictions of RMS, but he won't be the leader of FSF forever. Someone else will take over the FSF at some point (RMS may be a wizard, but he is still mortal ;)), and someone else from them... it's not inconceivable that 20-30 years down the road, FSF might have a leader that wouldn't be immune to, say, a several-million dollar bribe from $BIG_CORP that then calls the shots and releases a GPL version X that essentially puts all previously-GPL'd works into the public domain, or under a BSD-style license, or a license that stipulates "GPL version X-1 OR $BIG_CORP can do whatever it wants with the source", or any number of other unintended things.
Now, most software projects do not last 20-30 years, but the viral nature of the GPL means that: anything based off of anything based off of anything based off of Darcs code will be GPL with the "any later version" clause. So if any remnant of Darcs source is still around a few decades from now, it could very well end up being relicensed under essentially arbitrary terms. Without the "any later version" clause, it's guaranteed that Darcs will remain GPL-only for as long as the authors wish.
This is why I never use the "or any later version" clause in any software I release. Sure, it may seem a bit paranoid, but I don't see any substantial reason why the clause is there in the first place. If the FSF comes up with a new, improved version X of the GPL that addresses some sort of problem, I'll re-release my code *myself* under GPL version X, or under a dual license... I don't need the clause in there to automatically let the FSF do it for me. :P
- Colin _______________________________________________ darcs-users mailing list [email protected] http://www.abridgegame.org/mailman/listinfo/darcs-users
