Re: DFSG#10 and the Open Source Initiative
On Tue, May 25, 2004 at 07:21:17PM -0400, Raul Miller wrote:
> > It's still the GPL, and it's not a case of strange interpretations--GPL#8
> > is explicitly intended to be used in this way. I don't think any reasonable
> > interpretation of DFSG#10 can make it say "the GPL is free, unless GPL#8
> > is exercised".
>
> It is the GPL, and it's not. "The GPL with a restriction excluding the
> USA" is not the GPL used on gcc.
DFSG#10 does not say "the GPL used on gcc".
> I don't remember any convincing reasoning that there's an implied "all"
> there. The closest to that was "we're more concerned about the spirit
> of the DFSG than the literal text", or something of that sort.
I'll supply someone else's argument, since I've argued my own already:
From: Josh Triplett <josh.trip@verizon.net>
Message-ID: <[🔎] 40A1670A.8020107@verizon.net>
> DFSG 3 states that "The license must allow modifications and derived
> works". If you read that as "some modifications and derived works",
> then there must be some qualification for which ones, and no such
> qualification is present in the DFSG. If you read it as "all
> modifications and derived works", no such qualification is necessary.
> While the DFSG does not explicitly state which interpretation is
> correct, it does not include the supporting information necessary for
> the "some" interpretation to be valid.
The body of your response:
> You are correct that the DFSG does not exhaustively list all
> qualifications.
> But some qualifications are implied. Paragraphs 4 and 10 both indicate
> that some qualifications must be allowed.
Your response did not convincingly counter Josh's argument, since "the
supporting information necessary" is, in fact, not present.
DFSG#4 is usually read as an explicit exception to DFSG#3, and does not
qualify as the "supporting information necessary for the "some"
interpretation to be valid."
The reference to DFSG#10 again assumes a consensus regarding DFSG#10
that doesn't exist; I'll skip that, since we've been there.
(Josh's response applies to the "all instances of the GPL" versus "some
instances of the GPL" argument, as well.)
I'm not going to continue this argument much longer, though, for the
same reasons as before--I believe your interpretation of DFSG#3 is an
extreme minority, and the debate is tiresome (probably for the rest
of the list as well as myself).
--
Glenn Maynard
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