GPLv3 & trust?
GPLv3 & trust?
Posted Sep 27, 2006 0:38 UTC (Wed) by pinky0x51 (guest, #40742)In reply to: GPLv3 & trust? by mingo
Parent article: Why Torvalds is sitting out the GPLv3 process (Linux.com)
>You are missing a very obvious thing: tens of thousands of developers have contributed under "GPLv2 or later" projects, assuming and trusting that the FSF promise that later GPL versions would be "similar in spirit" would be upheld.
Where is the problem? The spirit is still the same.
Look at the GNU Manifesto, read the GNU philosophy or just the preamble of the GPL.
The spirit was always the everyone who gets software which is licensed
under
the GPL should have the right to (0) use it for any purpose, (1) study and
modify it (and of course than go back to freedom (0)), (2) share it and
(3) copy modified versions. If you want to remove this rights through
license-changing, technology (DRM), software patents or
through any other technology or law wich could appear in the future than
you act against the spirit of the GPL.
GPLv2 protected this freedoms really good in the age before DRM and
software patents, GPLv3 will protect this freedoms really good in the age
of software patents and DRM and i hope GPLv4 will protect this freedoms in
the future if new technology and/or laws appear to remove this
freedoms.
As long as the GPL (never mind in which version) will secure this freedom
the GPL is in the spirit of it predecessors.