Re: [PROPOSAL] Full text of GPL must be included
On Thu, Nov 30, 2000 at 04:19:13PM -0500, Brian Mays wrote:
> lohner@ecf.teradyne.com (Nils Lohner) writes:
>
> > ps. what license is the GPL itself under? :)
>
> You can copy it, distribute it, you can even sell it, but you cannot
> change it. Funny, isn't it: the GPL is the only part of a GPLed project
> that you are *not* allowed to modify.
This is not true. There are other parts you must not modify, like the
Copyright notice itself and author information. Also read clause 2.c) in the
GPL.
If you change anything, you also must document the changes including date
(not explanations, but the fact you changed).
It makes sense to prohibit modifying the GPL: You'd end up if a lot of very
similar licenses, and we had to use diff everytime. Also, the preamble of
the GPL has no generic technical value, and the actual license text can be
reused (it says that you can't copyright legal text like this) whenever you
want.
Marcus
--
`Rhubarb is no Egyptian god.' Debian http://www.debian.org brinkmd@debian.org
Marcus Brinkmann GNU http://www.gnu.org marcus@gnu.org
Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de
http://www.marcus-brinkmann.de
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