Re: GPL "or any greater version"
>
> > If the Program specifies a version number of this License which
> > applies to it and "any later version", you have the option of
> > following the terms and conditions either of that version or of any
> > later version published by the Free Software Foundation.
Raul Miller <moth@debian.org> writes:
> > In my opinion the bit that says <<and "any later version",>> refers
> > to later versions of the program -- in other words, what the license
> > elsewhere calls works based on the Program.
On Fri, Aug 27, 2004 at 06:27:36PM +0100, Adam Sampson wrote:
> I suspect that's a pretty unusual interpretation, and I'd be quite
> surprised if that's what the FSF actually meant. I'd understood the
> first clause as:
>
> If the Program specifies {a version number of this License which
> applies to it} and {"any later version"} ...
That looks plausible grammatically, but still doesn't make much sense
legally [we're waiting for clarification from the FSF on an aspect of
that legal question].
> This is consistent with the FSF's stock copyright and distribution
> terms notice, which says "either version 2 of the License, or (at your
> option) any later version"; that specifies a version number, and "any
> later version".
My interpretation is consistent with those notices as well.
> It also wouldn't really make sense to phrase this clause as a
> condition ("If...") if this applied to every use of the license --
> they could just have said "You have the option of ...".
Except that the option in question relates to the specified version.
So, for example, the program might specify GPL v2 or later, and the user
might have received it under GPL v3. The user still has the option of
using GPL v2.
How can this be phrased without making the option conditional on the
version number?
--
Raul
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