Ghost stories

[Aaron Bentley]

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Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> Aaron Bentley writes:
> 
>  > Obviously copyleft licenses are not compatible in a legal sense.  I was
>  > speaking of philosophical compatibility.  A change that rendered the
>  > GPL3 unpalatable to a significant fraction of existing GPL2 users would
>  > have been against the interest of those creating the GPL3.
> 
> Surely, RMS doesn't think that way.

You'll note that I didn't mention RMS, and in fact used the plural when
speaking of the GPL3's creators.  I did this because RMS was not the
sole creator of the GPL3.  If you recall, there was actually a lengthy
public consultation process.

Since the GPL3 has a different set of creators, the insight it can give
into the intent of the GPL2 is weaker.

> Consider how he labels Linus and
> Debian and anyone who doesn't agree with the major tenets of his
> licensing philosophy 100% as "unfriendly" and "wrongheaded", and makes
> the changes he wants anyway.

Stallman is a character, but not a caricature.  Sometimes he seems
fanatical and rigid, other times conciliatory and pragmatic.

> I have to think that the absence of an
> Affero clause from GPLv3 proper is due to philosophical reservations
> about its role in licensing free software.

You are free to think what you wish.  I think that the FAQ entry
suggests that RMS wanted to take a stronger stand on this issue, but was
willing to compromise.

> That doesn't mean it would be a bad idea for Canonical to adopt a
> policy of publishing everything it develops, but I think an attempt to
> argue on the basis of "the spirit of the GPL" is poorly founded.

No one is arguing that.  I only suggested that the "spirit of the GPL"
is ambiguous.

Aaron
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