Linked by Thom Holwerda on Fri 29th Jun 2007 23:09 UTC, submitted by thebluesgnr
The FSF today released version 3 of the GNU GPL, the popular free software license. "Since we founded the free software movement, over 23 years ago, the free software community has developed thousands of useful programs that respect the user's freedom. The programs are in the GNU/Linux operating system, as well as personal computers, telephones, Internet servers, and more. Most of these programs use the GNU GPL to guarantee every user the freedom to run, study, adapt, improve, and redistribute the program," said Richard Stallman, founder and president of the FSF. This article has some interesting replies from the BSD community (right in the middle).
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RE[2]: GPL is about software freedom, not free software
by npang on Sat 30th Jun 2007 13:08
in reply to "RE: GPL is about software freedom, not free software"
Member since:2006-11-26
GPL3 is written in *exactly* the same spirit as GPL2. The essence of all GNU GPLs are:
* The concept of conveying the four freedoms of free software to all licensees
* The concept of ensuring that the licensees of GPLed software will not "subjugate" other users i.e., the GPL has language that prevents licensees from distributing the GPLed software as proprietary software.
The major changes in GPL3 are:
* Tighter wording of the language of GPL2 to facilitate international enforcement of the licence.
* Explicit declaration of terms that were present but only implied in GPL2
Member since:
2006-10-08
A very good and still simple comparison, thank you. Just to put it into a formal setting:
BSD -> use for free, as long as BSDL code copyright is retained
GPLv2 -> use and contribute back
GPLv3 -> use, contribute back and don't use patents / DRM
Commercial -> use and pay money
The GPLv3 extends the requirements of the v2, while the BSDL has lower requirements than GPLv2 and v3.
=> BryanFeeney.mod++;