GPL version option

[Thomas Hood <jdthood@yahoo.co.uk>]

Now that a draft of GPL version 3 has been published it seems appropriate
to examine what the implications would be for current licensees of GPL'd
software.  For many licensees it does have implications because the software
is licensed under the GPL with the "version option".

The text of the GPL itself includes this section:

>   9. The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions
> of the General Public License from time to time.  Such new versions will
> be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to
> address new problems or concerns.
> 
> Each version is given a distinguishing version number.  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.  If the Program does not specify a version number of
> this License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software
> Foundation.

Actual source files contain text like this (with version option):

   This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
   the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or
   (at your option) any later version.

but some of them contain text like this (without version option):

   This package is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify
   it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
   the Free Software Foundation; version 2 dated June, 1991.

I had never paid much attention to this before and to my dismay I found
several source files that _I_ had written which lacked the version option.
It was always my intent to grant the version option so I promptly made the
changes to my local copies.

When I examined other source files I found rather a mess.  Several
debian/copyright files contained "without option" texts whereas the source
files themselves contains "with option" texts.  These had to be corrected.

My guess is that there may be other packages out there that need to be
reviewed with respect to the granting or non-granting of the GPL version
option.

I was going to post this message to debian-devel, but then I thought that
it might be possible to write a lintian check for this.  A warning could
be printed if both "with" and "without" versions were noticed anywhere in
the sources.
-- 
Thomas Hood