Date: Wed, 17 May 2000 02:33:12 +0530 From: Rahul Siddharthan <rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in> To: David Scheidt <dscheidt@enteract.com> Cc: David Schwartz <davids@webmaster.com>, Anatoly Vorobey <mellon@pobox.com>, chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: RE: Why are people against GNU? WAS Re: 5.0 already? Message-ID: <20000517023312.B13129@physics.iisc.ernet.in> In-Reply-To: <Pine.NEB.3.96.1000516155120.75167A-100000@shell-2.enteract.com>; from dscheidt@enteract.com on Tue, May 16, 2000 at 03:54:51PM -0500 References: <20000517005633.B22400@physics.iisc.ernet.in> <Pine.NEB.3.96.1000516155120.75167A-100000@shell-2.enteract.com>
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David Scheidt said on May 16, 2000 at 15:54:51: > On Wed, 17 May 2000, Rahul Siddharthan wrote: > > > From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> > > To: rsidd@physics.iisc.ernet.in > > Subject: Re: GPL question > > > > 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. > > > > Of course, if you release code under the standard "version n, or any later > version", and FSF gets bought out by Microsoft^Wthe forces of evil, and > releases version 3 of the license which says "screw you, we get all the > rights", you can't do much but whine. If it really ever became an issue, > the original author -- or his copyright inheritor -- can re-release under > the new license. It is *already* out there under version 2. Nobody will be *forced* to reissue it under version 3. If Microsoft did do what you say, it would be no worse than if they took BSD code and put their own license on it -- they can't take back the earlier license from people who already received it. It will not stop people distributing existing versions, developing them further under GPL 2, and *not* putting GPL 3 on it. Rahul. To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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