FSF's Star Turn in the Android FUDathon (LinuxInsider)
FSF's Star Turn in the Android FUDathon (LinuxInsider)
LinuxInsider is running an opinionated
four-part series on the "GPLv2 death penalty" discussion and the Free
Software Foundation's role in it. "While it is true that section 4
of the GPLv2 license terminates your right to redistribute when you fall
out of compliance, section 6 is equally clear when it states that you get a
valid license from the copyright-holder with each new copy you
receive. Resuming distribution is simply a matter of returning to
compliance and downloading a new copy. It's true that this won't 'fix'
previous compliance problems; depending on their nature, they may have to
be negotiated with the copyright-holders or decided by a court, but the
threat of the ultimate "big stick" -- of never being able to resume
distribution with the new license automatically granted under section 6 --
is an attempt to impose restrictions that neither a plain reading of the
license nor the rules dealing with take-it-or-leave-it contracts
allows.
"