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GPLV3 - It's Here; Updated with a new GPLv3 graphic
Friday, June 29 2007 @ 11:34 AM EDT

Just a reminder that FSF will stream live footage of Richard Stallman announcing GPLv3 at noon (EDT) at www.fsf.org so if you are a tech history buff, this is for you. [Archived.]

If you need to get a converter to run Ogg Theora, you can here. For the Mac OSX here.

And here it is, along with LGPLv3. And here's a PDF that explains the changes made since the last draft was published. There is also a handy compatibility chart in the GPLv3 FAQ:

How is GPLv3 compatible with other GNU licenses?

The various GNU licenses enjoy broad compatibility between each other. The only time you may not be able to combine code under two of these licenses is when you want to use code that's only under an older version of a license with code that's under a newer version. permitted.

Just follow the chart. Here's a good summing up by Mattlew Aslett. And here's a snip from Stephen Shankland's coverage:

Among those giving the new license a warm reception are IBM, dominant Linux sellers Red Hat and Novell, and open-source database seller MySQL.

"GPL 3 code will be flowing from IBM...We'll tell our customers we're fine with it," said Dan Frye, vice president of IBM open systems development. "As with any consensus process, you don't get everything you asked for. But we got listened to. What came out is absolutely a commercially viable license."

If you can read French, you can read about a case in France, where the GPL was recently upheld.

[Update: A report on Stallman's remarks, for those who missed the video, quotes him on the Novell-Microsoft deal:

"Instead of saying Novell can't distribute GPLv3 covered programs under their deal, we found a cleverer thing to do with it," Stallman said.

"When Novell upgrades to versions of software covered by the GPLv3, GPLv3 will extend this patent protection from the customers of Novell to everybody who uses those programs. Effectively, we found a way to turn the deal against Microsoft and make it backfire."

So that's the answer to your many questions about why Novell is being allowed to continue to distribute. And as for your questions about compatibility, the report from Internet News quotes this Black Duck attorney:

"Reciprocal licenses cannot be compatible with each other," Black Duck Software's Kat McCabe, vice president & general counsel, explained to internetnews.com. "If you use code covered by a reciprocal license, that license requires that it control the code when it's licensed back out. You can't have multiple licenses that by their terms claim to govern a particular work automatically. So, it's correct to say that "GPL2 only" code and GPL3 code are not compatible."...

"Generally speaking though, there are a limited number projects that are provided under "GPL2 only" licenses, for example the Linux kernel," McCabe said. "Most projects governed by GPL2 have language that says that the code is governed by GPL2 or any later version of the license. That code can be converted from GPL2 to GPL3 at the option of the user. In that case, there is no license conflict."

So there you have it.]

Our own Jill C. Carpenter has done a graphic in honor of the occasion:


GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 3, 29 June 2007

Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

Preamble

The GNU General Public License is a free, copyleft license for software and other kinds of works.

The licenses for most software and other practical works are designed to take away your freedom to share and change the works. By contrast, the GNU General Public License is intended to guarantee your freedom to share and change all versions of a program--to make sure it remains free software for all its users. We, the Free Software Foundation, use the GNU General Public License for most of our software; it applies also to any other work released this way by its authors. You can apply it to your programs, too.

When we speak of free software, we are referring to freedom, not price. Our General Public Licenses are designed to make sure that you have the freedom to distribute copies of free software (and charge for them if you wish), that you receive source code or can get it if you want it, that you can change the software or use pieces of it in new free programs, and that you know you can do these things.

To protect your rights, we need to prevent others from denying you these rights or asking you to surrender the rights. Therefore, you have certain responsibilities if you distribute copies of the software, or if you modify it: responsibilities to respect the freedom of others.

For example, if you distribute copies of such a program, whether gratis or for a fee, you must pass on to the recipients the same freedoms that you received. You must make sure that they, too, receive or can get the source code. And you must show them these terms so they know their rights.

Developers that use the GNU GPL protect your rights with two steps: (1) assert copyright on the software, and (2) offer you this License giving you legal permission to copy, distribute and/or modify it.

For the developers' and authors' protection, the GPL clearly explains that there is no warranty for this free software. For both users' and authors' sake, the GPL requires that modified versions be marked as changed, so that their problems will not be attributed erroneously to authors of previous versions.

Some devices are designed to deny users access to install or run modified versions of the software inside them, although the manufacturer can do so. This is fundamentally incompatible with the aim of protecting users' freedom to change the software. The systematic pattern of such abuse occurs in the area of products for individuals to use, which is precisely where it is most unacceptable. Therefore, we have designed this version of the GPL to prohibit the practice for those products. If such problems arise substantially in other domains, we stand ready to extend this provision to those domains in future versions of the GPL, as needed to protect the freedom of users.

Finally, every program is threatened constantly by software patents. States should not allow patents to restrict development and use of software on general-purpose computers, but in those that do, we wish to avoid the special danger that patents applied to a free program could make it effectively proprietary. To prevent this, the GPL assures that patents cannot be used to render the program non-free.

The precise terms and conditions for copying, distribution and modification follow.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS

0. Definitions.

"This License" refers to version 3 of the GNU General Public License.

"Copyright" also means copyright-like laws that apply to other kinds of works, such as semiconductor masks.

"The Program" refers to any copyrightable work licensed under this License. Each licensee is addressed as "you". "Licensees" and "recipients" may be individuals or organizations.

To "modify" a work means to copy from or adapt all or part of the work in a fashion requiring copyright permission, other than the making of an exact copy. The resulting work is called a "modified version" of the earlier work or a work "based on" the earlier work.

A "covered work" means either the unmodified Program or a work based on the Program.

To "propagate" a work means to do anything with it that, without permission, would make you directly or secondarily liable for infringement under applicable copyright law, except executing it on a computer or modifying a private copy. Propagation includes copying, distribution (with or without modification), making available to the public, and in some countries other activities as well.

To "convey" a work means any kind of propagation that enables other parties to make or receive copies. Mere interaction with a user through a computer network, with no transfer of a copy, is not conveying.

An interactive user interface displays "Appropriate Legal Notices" to the extent that it includes a convenient and prominently visible feature that (1) displays an appropriate copyright notice, and (2) tells the user that there is no warranty for the work (except to the extent that warranties are provided), that licensees may convey the work under this License, and how to view a copy of this License. If the interface presents a list of user commands or options, such as a menu, a prominent item in the list meets this criterion.

1. Source Code.

The "source code" for a work means the preferred form of the work for making modifications to it. "Object code" means any non-source form of a work.

A "Standard Interface" means an interface that either is an official standard defined by a recognized standards body, or, in the case of interfaces specified for a particular programming language, one that is widely used among developers working in that language.

The "System Libraries" of an executable work include anything, other than the work as a whole, that (a) is included in the normal form of packaging a Major Component, but which is not part of that Major Component, and (b) serves only to enable use of the work with that Major Component, or to implement a Standard Interface for which an implementation is available to the public in source code form. A "Major Component", in this context, means a major essential component (kernel, window system, and so on) of the specific operating system (if any) on which the executable work runs, or a compiler used to produce the work, or an object code interpreter used to run it.

The "Corresponding Source" for a work in object code form means all the source code needed to generate, install, and (for an executable work) run the object code and to modify the work, including scripts to control those activities. However, it does not include the work's System Libraries, or general-purpose tools or generally available free programs which are used unmodified in performing those activities but which are not part of the work. For example, Corresponding Source includes interface definition files associated with source files for the work, and the source code for shared libraries and dynamically linked subprograms that the work is specifically designed to require, such as by intimate data communication or control flow between those subprograms and other parts of the work.

The Corresponding Source need not include anything that users can regenerate automatically from other parts of the Corresponding Source.

The Corresponding Source for a work in source code form is that same work.

2. Basic Permissions.

All rights granted under this License are granted for the term of copyright on the Program, and are irrevocable provided the stated conditions are met. This License explicitly affirms your unlimited permission to run the unmodified Program. The output from running a covered work is covered by this License only if the output, given its content, constitutes a covered work. This License acknowledges your rights of fair use or other equivalent, as provided by copyright law.

You may make, run and propagate covered works that you do not convey, without conditions so long as your license otherwise remains in force. You may convey covered works to others for the sole purpose of having them make modifications exclusively for you, or provide you with facilities for running those works, provided that you comply with the terms of this License in conveying all material for which you do not control copyright. Those thus making or running the covered works for you must do so exclusively on your behalf, under your direction and control, on terms that prohibit them from making any copies of your copyrighted material outside their relationship with you.

Conveying under any other circumstances is permitted solely under the conditions stated below. Sublicensing is not allowed; section 10 makes it unnecessary.

3. Protecting Users' Legal Rights From Anti-Circumvention Law.

No covered work shall be deemed part of an effective technological measure under any applicable law fulfilling obligations under article 11 of the WIPO copyright treaty adopted on 20 December 1996, or similar laws prohibiting or restricting circumvention of such measures.

When you convey a covered work, you waive any legal power to forbid circumvention of technological measures to the extent such circumvention is effected by exercising rights under this License with respect to the covered work, and you disclaim any intention to limit operation or modification of the work as a means of enforcing, against the work's users, your or third parties' legal rights to forbid circumvention of technological measures.

4. Conveying Verbatim Copies.

You may convey verbatim copies of the Program's source code as you receive it, in any medium, provided that you conspicuously and appropriately publish on each copy an appropriate copyright notice; keep intact all notices stating that this License and any non-permissive terms added in accord with section 7 apply to the code; keep intact all notices of the absence of any warranty; and give all recipients a copy of this License along with the Program.

You may charge any price or no price for each copy that you convey, and you may offer support or warranty protection for a fee.

5. Conveying Modified Source Versions.

You may convey a work based on the Program, or the modifications to produce it from the Program, in the form of source code under the terms of section 4, provided that you also meet all of these conditions:

a) The work must carry prominent notices stating that you modified it, and giving a relevant date.

b) The work must carry prominent notices stating that it is released under this License and any conditions added under section 7. This requirement modifies the requirement in section 4 to "keep intact all notices".

c) You must license the entire work, as a whole, under this License to anyone who comes into possession of a copy. This License will therefore apply, along with any applicable section 7 additional terms, to the whole of the work, and all its parts, regardless of how they are packaged. This License gives no permission to license the work in any other way, but it does not invalidate such permission if you have separately received it.

d) If the work has interactive user interfaces, each must display Appropriate Legal Notices; however, if the Program has interactive interfaces that do not display Appropriate Legal Notices, your work need not make them do so.

A compilation of a covered work with other separate and independent works, which are not by their nature extensions of the covered work, and which are not combined with it such as to form a larger program, in or on a volume of a storage or distribution medium, is called an "aggregate" if the compilation and its resulting copyright are not used to limit the access or legal rights of the compilation's users beyond what the individual works permit. Inclusion of a covered work in an aggregate does not cause this License to apply to the other parts of the aggregate.

6. Conveying Non-Source Forms.

You may convey a covered work in object code form under the terms of sections 4 and 5, provided that you also convey the machine-readable Corresponding Source under the terms of this License, in one of these ways:

a) Convey the object code in, or embodied in, a physical product (including a physical distribution medium), accompanied by the Corresponding Source fixed on a durable physical medium customarily used for software interchange.

b) Convey the object code in, or embodied in, a physical product (including a physical distribution medium), accompanied by a written offer, valid for at least three years and valid for as long as you offer spare parts or customer support for that product model, to give anyone who possesses the object code either (1) a copy of the Corresponding Source for all the software in the product that is covered by this License, on a durable physical medium customarily used for software interchange, for a price no more than your reasonable cost of physically performing this conveying of source, or (2) access to copy the Corresponding Source from a network server at no charge.

c) Convey individual copies of the object code with a copy of the written offer to provide the Corresponding Source. This alternative is allowed only occasionally and noncommercially, and only if you received the object code with such an offer, in accord with subsection 6b.

d) Convey the object code by offering access from a designated place (gratis or for a charge), and offer equivalent access to the Corresponding Source in the same way through the same place at no further charge. You need not require recipients to copy the Corresponding Source along with the object code. If the place to copy the object code is a network server, the Corresponding Source may be on a different server (operated by you or a third party) that supports equivalent copying facilities, provided you maintain clear directions next to the object code saying where to find the Corresponding Source. Regardless of what server hosts the Corresponding Source, you remain obligated to ensure that it is available for as long as needed to satisfy these requirements.

e) Convey the object code using peer-to-peer transmission, provided you inform other peers where the object code and Corresponding Source of the work are being offered to the general public at no charge under subsection 6d.

A separable portion of the object code, whose source code is excluded from the Corresponding Source as a System Library, need not be included in conveying the object code work.

A "User Product" is either (1) a "consumer product", which means any tangible personal property which is normally used for personal, family, or household purposes, or (2) anything designed or sold for incorporation into a dwelling. In determining whether a product is a consumer product, doubtful cases shall be resolved in favor of coverage. For a particular product received by a particular user, "normally used" refers to a typical or common use of that class of product, regardless of the status of the particular user or of the way in which the particular user actually uses, or expects or is expected to use, the product. A product is a consumer product regardless of whether the product has substantial commercial, industrial or non-consumer uses, unless such uses represent the only significant mode of use of the product.

"Installation Information" for a User Product means any methods, procedures, authorization keys, or other information required to install and execute modified versions of a covered work in that User Product from a modified version of its Corresponding Source. The information must suffice to ensure that the continued functioning of the modified object code is in no case prevented or interfered with solely because modification has been made.

If you convey an object code work under this section in, or with, or specifically for use in, a User Product, and the conveying occurs as part of a transaction in which the right of possession and use of the User Product is transferred to the recipient in perpetuity or for a fixed term (regardless of how the transaction is characterized), the Corresponding Source conveyed under this section must be accompanied by the Installation Information. But this requirement does not apply if neither you nor any third party retains the ability to install modified object code on the User Product (for example, the work has been installed in ROM).

The requirement to provide Installation Information does not include a requirement to continue to provide support service, warranty, or updates for a work that has been modified or installed by the recipient, or for the User Product in which it has been modified or installed. Access to a network may be denied when the modification itself materially and adversely affects the operation of the network or violates the rules and protocols for communication across the network.

Corresponding Source conveyed, and Installation Information provided, in accord with this section must be in a format that is publicly documented (and with an implementation available to the public in source code form), and must require no special password or key for unpacking, reading or copying.

7. Additional Terms.

"Additional permissions" are terms that supplement the terms of this License by making exceptions from one or more of its conditions. Additional permissions that are applicable to the entire Program shall be treated as though they were included in this License, to the extent that they are valid under applicable law. If additional permissions apply only to part of the Program, that part may be used separately under those permissions, but the entire Program remains governed by this License without regard to the additional permissions.

When you convey a copy of a covered work, you may at your option remove any additional permissions from that copy, or from any part of it. (Additional permissions may be written to require their own removal in certain cases when you modify the work.) You may place additional permissions on material, added by you to a covered work, for which you have or can give appropriate copyright permission.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, for material you add to a covered work, you may (if authorized by the copyright holders of that material) supplement the terms of this License with terms:

a) Disclaiming warranty or limiting liability differently from the terms of sections 15 and 16 of this License; or

b) Requiring preservation of specified reasonable legal notices or author attributions in that material or in the Appropriate Legal Notices displayed by works containing it; or

c) Prohibiting misrepresentation of the origin of that material, or requiring that modified versions of such material be marked in reasonable ways as different from the original version; or

d) Limiting the use for publicity purposes of names of licensors or authors of the material; or

e) Declining to grant rights under trademark law for use of some trade names, trademarks, or service marks; or

f) Requiring indemnification of licensors and authors of that material by anyone who conveys the material (or modified versions of it) with contractual assumptions of liability to the recipient, for any liability that these contractual assumptions directly impose on those licensors and authors.

All other non-permissive additional terms are considered "further restrictions" within the meaning of section 10. If the Program as you received it, or any part of it, contains a notice stating that it is governed by this License along with a term that is a further restriction, you may remove that term. If a license document contains a further restriction but permits relicensing or conveying under this License, you may add to a covered work material governed by the terms of that license document, provided that the further restriction does not survive such relicensing or conveying.

If you add terms to a covered work in accord with this section, you must place, in the relevant source files, a statement of the additional terms that apply to those files, or a notice indicating where to find the applicable terms.

Additional terms, permissive or non-permissive, may be stated in the form of a separately written license, or stated as exceptions; the above requirements apply either way.

8. Termination.

You may not propagate or modify a covered work except as expressly provided under this License. Any attempt otherwise to propagate or modify it is void, and will automatically terminate your rights under this License (including any patent licenses granted under the third paragraph of section 11).

However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated (a) provisionally, unless and until the copyright holder explicitly and finally terminates your license, and (b) permanently, if the copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.

Moreover, your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated permanently if the copyright holder notifies you of the violation by some reasonable means, this is the first time you have received notice of violation of this License (for any work) from that copyright holder, and you cure the violation prior to 30 days after your receipt of the notice.

Termination of your rights under this section does not terminate the licenses of parties who have received copies or rights from you under this License. If your rights have been terminated and not permanently reinstated, you do not qualify to receive new licenses for the same material under section 10.

9. Acceptance Not Required for Having Copies.

You are not required to accept this License in order to receive or run a copy of the Program. Ancillary propagation of a covered work occurring solely as a consequence of using peer-to-peer transmission to receive a copy likewise does not require acceptance. However, nothing other than this License grants you permission to propagate or modify any covered work. These actions infringe copyright if you do not accept this License. Therefore, by modifying or propagating a covered work, you indicate your acceptance of this License to do so.

10. Automatic Licensing of Downstream Recipients.

Each time you convey a covered work, the recipient automatically receives a license from the original licensors, to run, modify and propagate that work, subject to this License. You are not responsible for enforcing compliance by third parties with this License.

An "entity transaction" is a transaction transferring control of an organization, or substantially all assets of one, or subdividing an organization, or merging organizations. If propagation of a covered work results from an entity transaction, each party to that transaction who receives a copy of the work also receives whatever licenses to the work the party's predecessor in interest had or could give under the previous paragraph, plus a right to possession of the Corresponding Source of the work from the predecessor in interest, if the predecessor has it or can get it with reasonable efforts.

You may not impose any further restrictions on the exercise of the rights granted or affirmed under this License. For example, you may not impose a license fee, royalty, or other charge for exercise of rights granted under this License, and you may not initiate litigation (including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging that any patent claim is infringed by making, using, selling, offering for sale, or importing the Program or any portion of it.

11. Patents.

A "contributor" is a copyright holder who authorizes use under this License of the Program or a work on which the Program is based. The work thus licensed is called the contributor's "contributor version".

A contributor's "essential patent claims" are all patent claims owned or controlled by the contributor, whether already acquired or hereafter acquired, that would be infringed by some manner, permitted by this License, of making, using, or selling its contributor version, but do not include claims that would be infringed only as a consequence of further modification of the contributor version. For purposes of this definition, "control" includes the right to grant patent sublicenses in a manner consistent with the requirements of this License.

Each contributor grants you a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free patent license under the contributor's essential patent claims, to make, use, sell, offer for sale, import and otherwise run, modify and propagate the contents of its contributor version.

In the following three paragraphs, a "patent license" is any express agreement or commitment, however denominated, not to enforce a patent (such as an express permission to practice a patent or covenant not to sue for patent infringement). To "grant" such a patent license to a party means to make such an agreement or commitment not to enforce a patent against the party.

If you convey a covered work, knowingly relying on a patent license, and the Corresponding Source of the work is not available for anyone to copy, free of charge and under the terms of this License, through a publicly available network server or other readily accessible means, then you must either (1) cause the Corresponding Source to be so available, or (2) arrange to deprive yourself of the benefit of the patent license for this particular work, or (3) arrange, in a manner consistent with the requirements of this License, to extend the patent license to downstream recipients. "Knowingly relying" means you have actual knowledge that, but for the patent license, your conveying the covered work in a country, or your recipient's use of the covered work in a country, would infringe one or more identifiable patents in that country that you have reason to believe are valid.

If, pursuant to or in connection with a single transaction or arrangement, you convey, or propagate by procuring conveyance of, a covered work, and grant a patent license to some of the parties receiving the covered work authorizing them to use, propagate, modify or convey a specific copy of the covered work, then the patent license you grant is automatically extended to all recipients of the covered work and works based on it.

A patent license is "discriminatory" if it does not include within the scope of its coverage, prohibits the exercise of, or is conditioned on the non-exercise of one or more of the rights that are specifically granted under this License. You may not convey a covered work if you are a party to an arrangement with a third party that is in the business of distributing software, under which you make payment to the third party based on the extent of your activity of conveying the work, and under which the third party grants, to any of the parties who would receive the covered work from you, a discriminatory patent license (a) in connection with copies of the covered work conveyed by you (or copies made from those copies), or (b) primarily for and in connection with specific products or compilations that contain the covered work, unless you entered into that arrangement, or that patent license was granted, prior to 28 March 2007.

Nothing in this License shall be construed as excluding or limiting any implied license or other defenses to infringement that may otherwise be available to you under applicable patent law.

12. No Surrender of Others' Freedom.

If conditions are imposed on you (whether by court order, agreement or otherwise) that contradict the conditions of this License, they do not excuse you from the conditions of this License. If you cannot convey a covered work so as to satisfy simultaneously your obligations under this License and any other pertinent obligations, then as a consequence you may not convey it at all. For example, if you agree to terms that obligate you to collect a royalty for further conveying from those to whom you convey the Program, the only way you could satisfy both those terms and this License would be to refrain entirely from conveying the Program.

13. Use with the GNU Affero General Public License.

Notwithstanding any other provision of this License, you have permission to link or combine any covered work with a work licensed under version 3 of the GNU Affero General Public License into a single combined work, and to convey the resulting work. The terms of this License will continue to apply to the part which is the covered work, but the special requirements of the GNU Affero General Public License, section 13, concerning interaction through a network will apply to the combination as such.

14. Revised Versions of this License.

The Free Software Foundation may publish revised and/or new versions of the GNU General Public License from time to time. Such new versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may differ in detail to address new problems or concerns.

Each version is given a distinguishing version number. If the Program specifies that a certain numbered version of the GNU General Public License "or any later version" applies to it, you have the option of following the terms and conditions either of that numbered version or of any later version published by the Free Software Foundation. If the Program does not specify a version number of the GNU General Public License, you may choose any version ever published by the Free Software Foundation.

If the Program specifies that a proxy can decide which future versions of the GNU General Public License can be used, that proxy's public statement of acceptance of a version permanently authorizes you to choose that version for the Program.

Later license versions may give you additional or different permissions. However, no additional obligations are imposed on any author or copyright holder as a result of your choosing to follow a later version.

15. Disclaimer of Warranty.

THERE IS NO WARRANTY FOR THE PROGRAM, TO THE EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW. EXCEPT WHEN OTHERWISE STATED IN WRITING THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND/OR OTHER PARTIES PROVIDE THE PROGRAM "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE PROGRAM IS WITH YOU. SHOULD THE PROGRAM PROVE DEFECTIVE, YOU ASSUME THE COST OF ALL NECESSARY SERVICING, REPAIR OR CORRECTION.

16. Limitation of Liability.

IN NO EVENT UNLESS REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW OR AGREED TO IN WRITING WILL ANY COPYRIGHT HOLDER, OR ANY OTHER PARTY WHO MODIFIES AND/OR CONVEYS THE PROGRAM AS PERMITTED ABOVE, BE LIABLE TO YOU FOR DAMAGES, INCLUDING ANY GENERAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE PROGRAM (INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LOSS OF DATA OR DATA BEING RENDERED INACCURATE OR LOSSES SUSTAINED BY YOU OR THIRD PARTIES OR A FAILURE OF THE PROGRAM TO OPERATE WITH ANY OTHER PROGRAMS), EVEN IF SUCH HOLDER OR OTHER PARTY HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

17. Interpretation of Sections 15 and 16.

If the disclaimer of warranty and limitation of liability provided above cannot be given local legal effect according to their terms, reviewing courts shall apply local law that most closely approximates an absolute waiver of all civil liability in connection with the Program, unless a warranty or assumption of liability accompanies a copy of the Program in return for a fee.

END OF TERMS AND CONDITIONS

How to Apply These Terms to Your New Programs

If you develop a new program, and you want it to be of the greatest possible use to the public, the best way to achieve this is to make it free software which everyone can redistribute and change under these terms.

To do so, attach the following notices to the program. It is safest to attach them to the start of each source file to most effectively state the exclusion of warranty; and each file should have at least the "copyright" line and a pointer to where the full notice is found.

Copyright (C)

This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see .

Also add information on how to contact you by electronic and paper mail.

If the program does terminal interaction, make it output a short notice like this when it starts in an interactive mode:

Copyright (C) This program comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY; for details type `show w'. This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions; type `show c' for details.

The hypothetical commands `show w' and `show c' should show the appropriate parts of the General Public License. Of course, your program's commands might be different; for a GUI interface, you would use an "about box".

You should also get your employer (if you work as a programmer) or school, if any, to sign a "copyright disclaimer" for the program, if necessary. For more information on this, and how to apply and follow the GNU GPL, see .

The GNU General Public License does not permit incorporating your program into proprietary programs. If your program is a subroutine library, you may consider it more useful to permit linking proprietary applications with the library. If this is what you want to do, use the GNU Lesser General Public License instead of this License. But first, please read .

GNU LESSER GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
Version 3, 29 June 2007

Copyright (C) 2007 Free Software Foundation, Inc. Everyone is permitted to copy and distribute verbatim copies of this license document, but changing it is not allowed.

This version of the GNU Lesser General Public License incorporates the terms and conditions of version 3 of the GNU General Public License, supplemented by the additional permissions listed below.

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As used herein, "this License" refers to version 3 of the GNU Lesser General Public License, and the "GNU GPL" refers to version 3 of the GNU General Public License.

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The object code form of an Application may incorporate material from a header file that is part of the Library. You may convey such object code under terms of your choice, provided that, if the incorporated material is not limited to numerical parameters, data structure layouts and accessors, or small macros, inline functions and templates (ten or fewer lines in length), you do both of the following:

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Graphic Copyright Jill C. Carpenter. The graphic is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.


  


GPLV3 - It's Here; Updated with a new GPLv3 graphic | 308 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
GPLV3 - Live at Noon
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 11:39 AM EDT
A typo in your URL... should be fsf.org not fdf.org (click the link to see what
I mean)

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Off topic here
Authored by: idahoan on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 12:03 PM EDT
.

[ Reply to This | # ]

So now we know...
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 12:17 PM EDT
...the Revolution *will* be streamed, but the stream may be choppy !

[ Reply to This | # ]

GPLV3 - Live at Noon
Authored by: tredman on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 12:23 PM EDT
I only had a short time to watch it, and pretty much caught the last half of RMS
speaking before the next speaker began (I wasn't familiar with his face). The
content of the presentation really wasn't that important, in that there was
nothing really said that we all haven't heard said before. But it was still
interesting to watch Stallman speak, if for no other reason than to watch the
next step in free software evolution.

Whether you believe that the new version of the GPL is for the better or for the
worse, I think it does signal a shift in the way free software is written and
distributed to the masses. The GPL2 had a good past, and still has a lively
future ahead of it, but I think it will really be interesting when opponents of
the new license start to rail against it.

Be prepared, we're in for a new slew of "the GPL (v3) has never been tested
in a court of law" arguments.

---
Tim
"I drank what?" - Socrates, 399 BCE

[ Reply to This | # ]

GPLV3 - Live at Noon
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 01:11 PM EDT
I missed it. Is there a link to the ogg file somewhere so one can download it?

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grandfather clause and GPLv3ng
Authored by: stites on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 01:18 PM EDT

You can find the text of GPLv3 here:

GPLv3 text

The final text contains a grandfather clause which approves the Microsoft-Novell agreement while forbidding any similar agreements since the Microsoft-Novell deal. This grandfather clause is the last part of the last sentence in Section 11, paragraph 7. Note this paragraph has been rewritten since the last draft and in my opinion is both clearer and easier to change.

For many people one of the objectives in developing GPLv3 was to make sure that the Microsoft-Novell agreement could not be applied to their code. The grandfather clause turns this idea on its head and specifically approves the Microsoft-Novell agreement. For those developers who disapprove of the Microsoft-Novell agreement I recommend that they remove the grandfather clause from the copy of GPLv3 that they include in their code.

The change is very minor but has a major impact on the meaning of the license. To avoid confusion I recommend that if you remove the grandfather clause that you change the name of the license to GPLv3ng.

The paragraph with the grandfather clause (Section 11, paragraph 7) reads:

"A patent license is “discriminatory” if it does not include within the scope of its coverage, prohibits the exercise of, or is conditioned on the non-exercise of one or more of the rights that are specifically granted under this License. You may not convey a covered work if you are a party to an arrangement with a third party that is in the business of distributing software, under which you make payment to the third party based on the extent of your activity of conveying the work, and under which the third party grants, to any of the parties who would receive the covered work from you, a discriminatory patent license (a) in connection with copies of the covered work conveyed by you (or copies made from those copies), or (b) primarily for and in connection with specific products or compilations that contain the covered work, unless you entered into that arrangement, or that patent license was granted, prior to 28 March 2007."

If you remove the grandfather clause then Section 11, paragraph 7 will read:

"A patent license is “discriminatory” if it does not include within the scope of its coverage, prohibits the exercise of, or is conditioned on the non-exercise of one or more of the rights that are specifically granted under this License. You may not convey a covered work if you are a party to an arrangement with a third party that is in the business of distributing software, under which you make payment to the third party based on the extent of your activity of conveying the work, and under which the third party grants, to any of the parties who would receive the covered work from you, a discriminatory patent license (a) in connection with copies of the covered work conveyed by you (or copies made from those copies), or (b) primarily for and in connection with specific products or compilations that contain the covered work."

Also you should go through the license and change all instances of "version 3" to "version 3ng"

----------------------
Steve Stites

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Done !
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 01:25 PM EDT
The CVS version of my project is now under the GPL v3.

I`m waiting for the Afero GPL 3, so I can relicense it under that.

-- Salsaman.

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Question for PJ or FSF
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 01:51 PM EDT
I`ve asked this a few times, but yet I have not had a satisfactory answer.

A couple of clauses were commented on extensively:

- the patent license section, which mentions "in the business of
distributing software"

- the grandfathering clause.

However, both were left in.

PJ, perhaps you could ask the FSF about these clauses, and the reasons for
leaving them in the license.

[ Reply to This | # ]

GPLV3 - Live at Noon
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 01:55 PM EDT
This is great, but please tell me someone how GPLv3 will solve the MS patent
agreement problem if the Linux kernel doesn't use the license? Linus has said as
recently as June 7th that he still sees no reason to change the kernel license
from GPLv2 and doesn't think killing deals like MS is a good enough reason to
change.

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"Permanent" license reinstatement?
Authored by: songmaster on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 03:07 PM EDT

How permanent is "permanently"? IANAL, but in section 8 Termination the following wording appears:

However, if you cease all violation of this License, then your license from a particular copyright holder is reinstated ... (b) permanently, if the copyright holder fails to notify you of the violation by some reasonable means prior to 60 days after the cessation.

I hope the word "permanently" here doesn't have a stronger meaning than was intended in any jurisdiction. If I modify or propagate a work in a way that violates its GPLv3 license (but in such a way that the work's authors cannot discover my violation), then I cease that violation and wait 60 days, any permanent reinstatement should not give me carte blanche for further violations of this work without the automatic termination kicking in again.

I guess the intended meaning is clear, but any seasoned Groklawer knows how much an opposing Lawyer can spin any little chink in the armor of a contract or license. Am I being over-sensitive about this?

— Andrew

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GPLV3 - It's Here; Updated with a new GPLv3 graphic
Authored by: seeks2know on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 06:49 PM EDT
Geesh! And I thought Microsoft's EULAs were long...

At least I don't have to read all of it compressed into a tiny window before I
can use the software.

8^)

---
There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it
steadily."
-- George Washington

[ Reply to This | # ]

Is scripting covered by the GPL?
Authored by: stomfi on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 10:24 PM EDT
The GPL seems to only cover source code that can be compiled into object code.
It doesn't seem to say anything about interpreted code.

I write my software using collections of Bash shell scripts. HTML, PHP and
something freely releasable called Transcript. In this form they are like a
prototype application that some else could use to build a compiled language
version.

Can scripts be legally distributed under the GPL?

It is good for the community if the GPL can be used on scripts as it prevents
robber barons from appropriating others ideas and methods for their own
purposes.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Why was Novell let off the hook?
Authored by: Anonymous on Friday, June 29 2007 @ 11:59 PM EDT
I just can not understand that.

For that matter, I can not understand how the novell-msft deal can be excluded
when the deal specifically defies the intent of the GPLv3, and for that matter
defies the spirit of GPLv2.

Why did they shift thing around at the last minute like that? Now, I think
people should avoid GPLv3 and use GPLv2. Maybe GPLv4 will get it right.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Broad compatibility question
Authored by: Anonymous on Saturday, June 30 2007 @ 04:11 AM EDT
Background: I've released source code (mostly bug fixes) for various open-source projects under varying licenses (public domain, MIT/BSD and alike, GPLv1 and 2. I don't mind any version of the GPL and I understand roughly the advantages and drawbacks of the various versions, including the "and later" clause found in many projects.

Now to my question: The GNU foundation states that the GPL licenses enjoy broad compatibility between each other. Looking at the compatibility matrix, I find that a license is compatible with another as long as you "upgrade" to a common version.

It sounds a little bit like weasel words to me: GPLv2-or-later is compatible with GPLv3 as long as you release under GPLv3 (meaning the GPLv2 part is lost); LGPLv? is compatible with GPLv2/3 as long as you release under GPLv2/3 (meaning the L is lost).

I understand that re-releasing GPLv2-or-later code under GPLv3-or-later is considered (at least by the GNU foundation) an upgrade and I understand the difference between a license and a contract ("if you don't like the license, don't use the code" is a perfectly valid stance for me). Yet I don't very much like the wording about the "broad compatibility". It sound PR to me.

EORant

Loïc

[ Reply to This | # ]

GPLV3 - It's Here; Updated with a new GPLv3 graphic
Authored by: IMANAL on Saturday, June 30 2007 @ 06:35 AM EDT
' "Copyright" also means copyright-like laws that apply to
other kinds of works, such as semiconductor masks.'

Which are the "copyright-like laws" they are referring
to?! From my layman's perspective this is the kind of
wording SCO's lawyers will love.

Maybe it is more stringent than it looks. Could some
enlighten me?

. . .

---
--------------------------
IM Absolutely Not A Lawyer

[ Reply to This | # ]

GPLv3 and attribution
Authored by: jseigh on Saturday, June 30 2007 @ 07:25 AM EDT
I notice that GPLv3 doesn't require attribution though you can add separate
attribution requirements if you want it. This contrasts with the Creative
Commons license versions all of which require attribution. Not sure you could
combine the two, though. You would probably need to come up with your own
attribution license.

[ Reply to This | # ]

GPL creates a barrier to entry into the software development field.
Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, July 02 2007 @ 05:03 PM EDT
I just want to explain a point of view regarding business methods and the
GPL/OSS. Do not misunderstand this, I am not saying OSS is bad. However,
treated as a global, "OSS is the ONLY correct way to develop
software", actually would cause much software to not exist at all.

Linux and other OS software relying on the GPL can be distributed and modified
freely. However, only mass market software with wide usage has the potential to
be a business using OSS. Small market programs where the user base is fairly
small would not sustain a business via OSS.

To explain I'll give an example. There are industries where there are perhaps
less than 500,000 companies. These companies are small most less than 3
employees. I actually work in such an industry. However, there is a market for
software to solve some business problem/function in these companies. In general
when they want to buy software they want to buy it once and not need a large
amount of support as they don't have I.T. departments they just need it to do
the job. So they are not overly willing to purchase "support"
contracts. They also don't have programmers to develop it themselves.

So I write a program that solves a significant problem for them. I use the GPL.
So now my program is used by every one of these businesses. However, I only
actually distributed it to perhaps 1000 of them. Most just run it from other
"distros". I wrote it well and there are few bugs. So most companies
don't ever need support. So now I have a completely successful program but no
business because I can't sell support as no one needs it or they get it from the
other "distros". The market is too small to support such a program in
OSS. The only way to sell support is to have a buggy program requiring support.
But then someone could simply fix the bugs and so the need for support goes
away again.

So the only way to actually have a software business selling in one of these
niche markets is to use the non-OSS licensing system. That way I at least get
paid once by each company using it. If the program is good at solving the
problem I could easily sell to all 500,000 companies and actually be able to
afford to write other programs. If I had attempted to use the OSS model I would
be bankrupt.

This is why OSS can create a barrier to entry into business if a customer
requires only OSS software.

[ Reply to This | # ]

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