That's the common sense answer. However, it is the ability to arbitrarily change licenses that makes the atty's nervous. There's good reason, too, since 'free' software is making people tons of $$$ -- and facilitating lots of litigation.
It's not so much about who can change 1 file's license. What it is about is that Linux (or other software) has/will have some collateral files that may be GPL'd under v3. When you put all of that together in a system that will be called "Linux version X", the question is what does that do the 'overall' Linux license? I don't think that I've ever seen an end-user-purchasable package that comes with multiple, conflicting licenses. Has anyone? There are several things at odds between GPL v2 and v3. The Linux *kernel* (but *only* the kernel, according to Linus) won't migrate to GPL v3, since there are provisions that prohibit DRM of all things. Stallman and Torvalds have a philosophical difference of opinion on this... Steve -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Michael Moore Sent: Monday, March 13, 2006 9:55 PM To: LDS Open Source Software Subject: Re: [Ldsoss] automatically uploading pictures to ward website > > the license agreement (v3) without notifying your existing users (of v3). > which clearly states that the users can NOT be forced to retroactively > accept new terms. It says they may choose to do so, if the software is > so licensed, but this is already common with v2. You should get a > better lawyer. Exactly. As I understand it... As a developer: a) If you put the "or any later version" clause in your work, the user may redistribute your software as v3 later if he chooses. This could be dangerous because you're at the mercies of the FSF as to what the v3 specifies. b) If you have something licenced as "or any later version" and decide to upgrade everything to v3, the copies out in the wild remain licenced as v2, unless the user decides to go with v3. Any new copies you distribute can be under v3 or whatever else you choose. As a user: V2 "or any later version" means you can pick which you prefer. If v2 suits your needs now, you can start using it now, and then decide if v3 will be better for you or not once v3 is finalized. You can however stick with v2 forever if you choose. The risk for the user is that if the developer decides to go with v3 for future releases and updates and v3 isn't suitable for the user, the user may have to start shopping for new software. Licence change in future versions is a risk included in any software choice however, including commercial. Hope that helps, and hope that's accurate. :-D -- Michael Moore ------------------------------- www.stuporglue.org -- Donate your used computer to a student that needs it. _______________________________________________ Ldsoss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss _______________________________________________ Ldsoss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ldsoss.org/mailman/listinfo/ldsoss
