On Sat, Jun 08, 2002 at 04:49:10PM -0700, Sean 'Shaleh' Perry wrote: > On 08-Jun-2002 Oohara Yuuma wrote: > > [Please Cc: to me because I am not subscribed to the list.] > > I took over the upstream of xsoldier (I am not the original author, > > so I don't have the copyright). It was under GPL version 2 > > or later. Can I put it under GPL exactly version 2, that is, > > forbid any later version? GPL says: > >> 6. Each time you redistribute the Program (or any work based on the > >> Program), the recipient automatically receives a license from the > >> original licensor to copy, distribute or modify the Program subject to > >> these terms and conditions. You may not impose any further > >> restrictions on the recipients' exercise of the rights granted herein. > >> You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties to > >> this License. > > Is forbidding later versions of GPL "further restrictions"? > Unless you own the copyright the GPL does not give you permission to relicense. > Stating that you may only use the GPLv2 changes the current license and is just > as forbidden as deciding you want to re-release it as BSD licensed software. However, if you've made modifications to the code, you can make your modifications available ONLY under the terms of GPLv2, denying users the freedom to use them under the terms of (not yet existant) later versions of the GPL. Since saying "you may use this code under the terms of the GPL version 2 or any later version" is essentially dual-licensing, I believe it's legal to combine code licensed under GPLv2 with code licensed under GPLv2-or-later, and distribute the result. Steve Langasek postmodern programmer
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