Re: Software Licenced Under a Specific Version of GPL

[Ari Makela <hauva@iki.fi>]

Jonathan D. Proulx writes:

 > Forever is a long time.  If you refer to the file system location,
 > that's part of maintaining a package.

But many packages can be installed to a older or newer versions of
Debian. That's why one cannot simply assume the file includes version
2. 

 > I suspect you mean the GPL version.  Typically licensing is "GPL v2 or
 > later", which this (I presume) will track.  If you want to specificly
 > use v2 only, a qustion comes up that I don't know the answer to.
 > 
 > Is the "or later" clause part of the GPL?

"or later" is customary but it is not part of the licence. It's a part
of the statement that the software is licenced under GPL.

GPL version 2 states:

<clip>
 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.
</clip>

This implies that "or later" is not mandatory.

-- 
#!/usr/bin/perl -w --                           Ari Makela <hauva@iki.fi> #
#                                                 http://arska.org/hauva/ #

# "Sailing is, after all, a kind of grace, a kind of magic." - Phil Berman