What is it you need to get rid of trolls? Fire? On Thu, Jan 19, 2006 at 02:33:41PM +0100, Alexander Terekhov wrote: Alexander> On 1/19/06, Glenn Maynard <glenn@zewt.org> wrote: Alexander> [...] Alexander> > compatible with itself Alexander> Alexander> The GPL is incompatible with itself. Alexander> Alexander> <quote***> Alexander> Alexander> A recent press conference of the Free Software Foundation confirmed Alexander> the rumors that the GNU General Public License was found to be Alexander> incompatible with itself. This newly discovered fact may actually Alexander> cause a lot of disorder in the free software world in which most Alexander> programs and libraries are licensed under this license. Alexander> Alexander> Richard Stallman, chairman of the FSF, called upon developers to Alexander> immediately exempt GPL-licensed software from the GPL, as far as Alexander> linking them with GPL programs is concerned. "We have already made Alexander> sure all GNU software and every other software that is licensed to Alexander> the Free Software Foundation would be ad-hoc compatible with itself. Alexander> However we need other developers to do the same for their software", Alexander> Stallman said. Alexander> Alexander> Eben Moglen, the FSF's attorney outlined the subsequent steps that Alexander> his organization will take to overcome this crisis. The first step Alexander> would be releasing a Modified General Public License (or MGPL for Alexander> short) that will be compatible with the GPL and with itself as well Alexander> as with all other licenses that the GPL is already compatible with. Alexander> It will be labeled the GPL version 2.1, thus allowing developers to Alexander> convert their software to it. He noted that care would be taken to Alexander> make sure the upcoming GPL version 3.0 will be compatible with Alexander> itself, as well as the MGPL. Alexander> Alexander> For the time being, though, there is an explosion of commentary, Alexander> confusion and otherwise bad temper about the newly formed situation. Alexander> Eric S. Raymond, the famous Open Source Guru notes: "This is one of Alexander> the greatest blows to the Open Source world, I have yet encountered. Alexander> I have already exempted all of my own software from the GPL in this Alexander> regard, but there is a lot of other software out there, and many of Alexander> its authors are not very communicative. Alexander> Alexander> Bill Gates, Microsoft's co-founder, on the other hand, seems to Alexander> find the situation very amusing: "I said times and again, that Alexander> viral licenses such as the GPL are a bad idea, and many open-source Alexander> advocates disagreed. Now they see that even making sure one's Alexander> license is compatible with itself, is hard to do when you open that Alexander> can of worms." Alexander> Alexander> The integrity of many software projects whose license is the GPL and Alexander> yet contain works licensed by several developers is in jeopardy. The Alexander> Linux kernel is a prominent example of such a case. In a post to its Alexander> mailing list, Linus Torvalds commented that, in their case, it was Alexander> not an issue. "My interpretation of the GPL is already quite unusual, Alexander> so I'll simply rule that I also interpret the GPL as compatible with Alexander> itself." Alexander> Alexander> </quote> Alexander> Alexander> regards, Alexander> alexander. Alexander> Alexander> ***) Posted by Shlomi Fish on Monday April 01 Alexander> -- Yorick
Attachment:
signature.asc
Description: Digital signature