Re: GPL licenses and the "any later version" phrase (was: Re: A possible GFDL compromise)
Quoting Mathieu Roy (yeupou@gnu.org):
> You always can retroactively change the license for your
> software. It's *too late* only if people who received your software
> before you change your license continue to distribute it. They can
> distribute it under your previous license, but only the previous
> versions, not the new, relicensed, version.
Just because many people (not you) get confused about this matter, I'll
point out that a copyright licence (such as GPLv2) attaches to an
_instance_ of the covered code. The copyright holder (being entitled to
generate as many diverse instances as he likes, and not needing to
consent to any licence to use his property) can switch to a different
licence (as to his code, not other people's that might be with it unless
they also consent) through the simple expedient of issuing a new
_instance_ with different terms. For that matter, nothing stops him
from having simultaneous instances in circulation with (e.g.) GPLv2,
2-clause BSD, and proprietary licence terms.
People get tripped up by language: For example, they speak of a
codebase as having a particular licence. E.g., "SourceForge [meaning
Alexandria] v. 2.5 was under GPLv2 or later." We say that because it's
precise enough for most purposes, but it misleads people into thinking
of licensing as an essential property of the codebase. It would be more
precise to say that _instances_ of that codebase are under GPLv2.
Also, the verb "relicense" is a bit misleading: What really happens is
that a new code instance emerges with a different licence.
> That's why software project once free can become proprietary, like
> SourceForge to name a famous one.
VA Software, Inc. kept promising the release of Alexandria
("SourceForge") 2.6 under GPLv2, making a series of misleading press
releases on the subject, while releasing proprietary, non-redistributable
successors in an attempt to build a proprietary software business based
on Alexandria (whose copyright it owned) and the sundry open-source
packages that with it comprise the SourceForge suite. Eventually, it
became obvious that the company would never deliver on those promises,
and multiple groups forked (variously) v. 2.5 or pre-2.6 CVS checkouts.
Those have started to merge after primary Alexandria author Tim Perdue's
VA-related legal entanglements expired six months following his layoff,
when he released GForge (http://gforge.org/) in conjunction with
Christian Bayle of the Debian-SF project and others.
--
Cheers, "I don't like country music, but I don't mean to denigrate
Rick Moen those who do. And, for the people who like country music,
rick@linuxmafia.com denigrate means 'put down'." -- Bob Newhart
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