licensing issues with gpl3 due to the gpl2only limitation

Arne Babenhauserheide arne_bab at web.de
Mon Oct 13 03:07:25 CDT 2008


Am Mittwoch 08 Oktober 2008 09:20:22 schrieb Eric M. Hopper:
> I feel very similarly to you on this.  I don't really understand why
> people don't like the GPLv3.  It seems like in almost all ways a better
> license than the GPLv2.

People have different opinions - that's a reality and it's good, though it's 
inconvenient at times ;). 

And some just don't like the FSF, or don't trust them. 

For example, some hold the opinion that the GPLv3 restriction "if you give 
someone a device which needs software signed with special keys, you have to 
give out a way to generate keys for this device, too, so they can get their 
own versions running on the device" is a use-restriction and violates the 
spirit of the GPL. 

I think that it is just a necessary addition, since it states "whatever the 
original developer can do must be doable by others, too (excepting missing 
skills and such)" which creates a symmetry between all participants. 

But I read some of the discussions in the kernel list on that when the GPLv3 
was drafted, and I doubt that the feelings of some against GPLv3 will change 
quickly - the discussions were too heated for that. 

And hell, we can get angry about that, but it is far more efficient to accept 
what we can't change and go on improving what we can change, for example by 
contributing to Mercurials codebase. 

Best wishes, 
Arne
-- 
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