Re: draft for new Vim license

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

    What if I have a copy with no changes at all, and want to distribute it
    linked against GPM?  I have to make a change (so it's a "modified Vim")?

Linking against GPM counts as making a change in the program as a whole.
So that does not raise an issue.

However, one thing that should be noted is that it has to be possible
directly or indirectly to release the unchanged program under the GPL.
Here's why.  Suppose I start with version A and add some code (let's
imagine it is 1000 lines) and release that modified version (call it
B) under the GPL.  Having version B under the GPL, I can change it
again and release the result under the GPL.  So I can delete those
1000 lines, producing version C which has the same code as version A
but is under the GPL.

What this means is that it is indirectly self-contradictory to say
"You can distribute modified versions under the GPL but not the
original version."

This issue may or may not actually be relevant to the proposed
wording.  I am not sure whether the proposed license wording tries to
say that.