Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 8th Jan 2008 23:18 UTC
Linus Torvalds, creator of the Linux operating system, still has no plans to license the Linux kernel under version three of the GNU GPL anytime soon. Torvalds, a vocal critic of GPL v3 while it was being drafted, prefers GPL v2, he told Jim Zemlin, the executive director of the Linux Foundation, Jan. 8 in the first in a series of podcasts titled 'Open Voices', which will feature the industry's top open source and Linux leaders. Torvalds also said Linux was the project that made the split clear between the religious belief in freedom advocated by the Free Software Foundation and the technical superiority that open source and Linux have always been about.
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Member since:2005-07-07
Member since:2006-06-21
Exactly. Why fix something that ain't broke?
But it is broken. GPLv3 fixes loopholes in v2 that can be used to escape both the letter and the spirit of the license by preventing people from sharing alike.
I fail to see how this can be seen as a bad thing, except by those who like the ability to circumvent v2.
So I'm not sure what Linus's objections to v2 are. I understand the practical difficulties of making all copyright holders for the kernel agree on the change, but he says they'll do it if Sun does it for Open Solaris. So it appears it's not such a big hurdle after all, and it can't be ideological since he's willing to be swayed by another's example.
Come to think about it, I wonder what makes Open Solaris so special that Linus is willing to follow it and only it on the GPLv3 issue. Why Open Solaris? How is it and Sun's stance relevant for Linux? I would've understood if he said "I'll do it if enough other big FOSS projects do it". Or "I'll ask the opinion of major Linux distro makers". But Open Solaris and Sun? Why? Because he thinks they'll never do it and thinks of it as an excuse along the lines of "when I see pigs fly"?
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Member since:
2007-08-16
I have to agree. I remember the earlier flamewar on the linux lists about this. Linus made his point well and sticks by it (as he should). GPLv2 does *exactly* what linux intends.