[email protected] wrote:
So when I saw Linus advocating forking programs that are currently "v2
or later" and making them "v2 only", then I asked that he clarify to
ensure that the major contributors to the project be consulted before
doing that. Whether it is legal is beside the point - it is good
manners to follow the ground rules of the people who write the code.
Thankfully Linus has clarified that now in a later posting. I was
already pretty sure he always intended for the major contributors to
be consulted before a fork was done, but I'm glad its on the record so
people don't start forking madly while flying a "Linus said its OK"
banner :)
It's good manners, but ultimately users vote with their feet.
If codebase A requires that modifications be given back (GPL v2), and
codebase A' additionally requires embedded device makers to permit users
to use modified code in all cases, which do you think device makers --
and ultimately users -- will choose?
For a lot of kernel devs who voted, I got the sense that the DRM clause
was the big stopping point. I actually think the patent clauses might
help things a bit, providing the "convey" language is cleared up. But
the DRM clause is far from technology-neutral, and doesn't take into
account useful DRM.
DRM is just a technology. It's not good or evil. It's a bit like
bittorrent: arguably, the majority of BT usage is for copyright
violations, but there are good uses for it too.
Further, the GPL v3 gets _too specific_ when it comes to talking about
technological remedies. It gets into the same trouble that politicians
get into, when they write technological remedies into law. Technology
changes too rapidly to get specific. Pretty soon you'll find that a
useful scenario was outlawed.
Jeff
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