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Re: Last word on GPL 3, LGPL 3 etc



On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:48:15 +0530 Shriramana Sharma wrote:

> Dear all,
> 
> I searched for dfsg and gpl 3 on Google and did not get any good
> results  so I am asking here:
> 
> Did I miss the thread or has there not been any official announcement
> of  the position of the Debian Project about the DFSG-freeness of the
> GPL 3  and LGPL 3?

First and most important: debian-legal participants cannot issue
official statements on behalf of the Debian Project.
I am not aware of any statement of the official Debian position about
these licenses.

That said, there has been a debian-legal thread about the final text of
the GNU GPL v3: it starts at
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2007/06/msg00266.html
(please note that it also continues on the following month, that is to
say the current month).

My personal opinion is that the GNU GPL v3 possibly meets the DFSG, but
has many disadvantages that should discourage its adoption (weak
copyleft in many respects, painful restrictions such as clause 5d, ...).

There has also been a thread (well, a single message with no replies,
actually!) about the LGPL v3:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2007/07/msg00014.html
and a still ongoing discussion about the issues raised by GPLv2-only
works linked against LGPLv3 works:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2007/07/msg00016.html

> How about the AGPL?

The GNU AGPL v3 is still unpublished, TTBOMK.
There has been a thread about its first draft:
http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2007/06/msg00176.html

> Seems to me that GPL 3 being
> DFSG free  is a very important thing regarding the future of Debian
> and Ubuntu.

This consideration, though true, should *not* influence the
DFSG-freeness analysis of works released under the terms of the GNU GPL
v3, IMHO.


Big disclaimers: IANAL, TINLA, IANADD, TINASOTODP.


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