Re: FYI: Update to GPL notices
Wouter Verhelst <wouter@debian.org> writes:
> On Mon, May 29, 2017 at 05:35:47PM -0700, Russ Allbery wrote:
>> As part of the XML conversion, I noticed the GPL notices on the three
>> documents released under the GPL were the older form that had an FSF
>> street address. I updated them to the current recommended form,
>> including switching to all-caps for the warranty disclaimer in the
>> recommended way (sometimes weird things matter for legal notices, so
>> may as well not get creative).
> Yes, indeed they do.
> I was under the impression, though, that the address form is the
> preferred form for version 2 of the license, whereas the website form is
> the preferred one for version 3 of it.
> I might be wrong, though.
The address form is the recommended form in the text of the GPLv2, but I'm
95% sure that's only because the FSF haven't changed anything at all about
the GPLv2 since the GPLv3 was released. Since the address information is
effectively contact information for the FSF, I wouldn't think it would be
license-specific; if they (and, more importantly, their lawyers) are now
comfortable with a URL, I think it makes sense to just go ahead and follow
the GPLv3 license notice form.
Keeping the address also runs the risk of the address becoming out of
date, which has already happened once in the past. So this is a bit more
future-proof.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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