Re: GPL "or any greater version"

[Adam McKenna <adam@flounder.net>]

On Tue, Aug 31, 2004 at 12:15:19PM -0400, Brian Thomas Sniffen wrote:
> > > Once you've distributed a change to gcc, the copyright holder is free
> > > to redistribute that change under any future version of the GPL, and
> > > there's nothing you can do to prevent that.  [Your distribution can
> > > be "only under the terms of GPLv2", but each recipient "automatically
> > > receives a license from the original licensor" and "You may not impose
> > > any further restrictions".]
> > 
> > He receives a license to the original program from the original
> > licensor -- who's in no position to grant licenses to what I wrote.
> > I'm compelled to offer a license under the terms of "this License,"
> > which is GPL v2.
> 
> See?  It makes it much harder to take objections like this seriously
> when you switch viewpoints in the middle.  You said stuff about
> governing terms of distribution in response to my statement that the
> original licensor is in no position to grant licenses to my works; now
> you've switched to talking about him preventing distribution of
> derivative works.  Did you have a serious point in here?

It's only "your work" when you distribute it separately, AND when it "can be
reasonably considered [an] independent and separate work" (GPL section 2).
Otherwise it's considered a derivative work (at least by the GPL), whether 
you distribute it separately or not.

If the original copyright holder has granted you the right to modify 
and distribute under "any later version" of the GPL, and you fail to give the
recipients of your deriviate work the same right, then you violate the
spirit of the GPL, whose preamble states that "if you distribute copies of
such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must give the recipients 
all the rights that you have.."

I would also imagine it would be within the original author's rights to
require that any derivative works be distributed with the "or any later
version" clause.

--Adam

-- 
Adam McKenna  <adam@debian.org>  <adam@flounder.net>