Quoting Omer Zak, from the post of Tue, 24 Dec: > Currently, the FSF has title to lots of GPLed software and encourages > independent developers of GPLed software to assign title to it, because it > has the resources to defend the copyright in court, if necessary.
it also reserves the right to refuse to take the copyright of any random package, they take only packages they see worthy and legitimate and in their interest. > Also, most of the GPLed software is released under "Version 2 or any later > version" of the GPL. the point here is "or", to say that you have a choice. the new version can't retroactively override anything in the older GPL. > What will happen if: > 1. Another gang succeeds RMS and his loyal supporters in FSF; and that > gang is not as committed to the ideals of Free Software. Such a gang > will eventually find a way to subvert the intentions of FSF in a way > detrimental to the spirit of RMS and today's FSF and GPL. then all new versions of the software are potentially screwed. take the last-known-good version that was released as GPL before the takeover and continue developping it from there out of the "new evil FSF"'s reach. the GPL protects that right. > 2. What if someday the people controlling FSF release Version 5 of the > GPL, which says that they (FSF) alone are allowed the rights; and other > people have to pay royalties (e.g. "to pay for court costs incurred by > the need to defend GPL"). then any software released under "GPL 5 only" should not be trusted. all software already released as "GPL2 or later" is just that. you choose, when you download the tarball, if you are recieving it under the terms of GPL 2, 3, 4 or 5 (I chose 2 for now :) and the new evil GPL doesn't bother you. > 3. What if FSF is driven somehow to bankruptcy (even if due to no fault of > its own) and its creditors take over all GPLed software assigned to it > and re-release it under MS-like terms. they can't retroactively close the source of GPLed code. "Kod meshukhrar lo yukhzar". they can only poison newer versions of the software. this is part of the "viral nature of the GPL" that MS hates so much - even if you get the copyright of a code and close it, the older versions are already out and about. -- Amazing escape artist Ira Abramov http://ira.abramov.org/email/ This post is encrypted twice with ROT-13. Documenting or attempting to crack this encryption is illegal.
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