Hi, I just read the glibc 2.2.4 Release Notes at http://news.linuxprogramming.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2001-08- 16-002-06-LT after the release notes proper there's a longish rant about rms trying to take over the project and influencing it in was project head Ulrich Drepper didn't aprove. Drepper makes rms sound like a second micro$oft-magnate. Does anybody know more about this? Does the "any" in the licenses really work the way Drepper claims?
Joachim AD UTRUMQUE PARATAS Marc Aurel
On Mon, 20 Aug 2001 18:10:29 +0200, joack said:
Does anybody know more about this? Does the "any" in the licenses really work the way Drepper claims?
Without the "or any later version" it would be highly problematic to change the license in case a bug has been identified in that license. This is what we call in software "easily extendible".
So from time to time there might be a need to change the licence; Think only about the changes we have encountered in the last years: Nobody thought about ASPs 10 years ago and now with our abundance of bandwidth, systems can be build which work around the protection given by the (L)GPL. For new software one would really like to be able to change a licencse. If there is code which just says "Version x.y" it will be impossible to build new software based on that code under a debugged license.
And Ulrich forgot to mention that the (L)GPL also says, that new revisions of the license will be in the same spirit.
I guess he had some bad days and didn't thought when he started that flamefest.
Werner
On Mon, Aug 20, 2001 at 09:38:18PM +0200, Werner Koch wrote:
On Mon, 20 Aug 2001 18:10:29 +0200, joack said:
Does anybody know more about this? Does the "any" in the licenses really work the way Drepper claims?
Without the "or any later version" it would be highly problematic to change the license in case a bug has been identified in that license. This is what we call in software "easily extendible".
Well, you may fix the licence, but the user may use the older version as well, he is not required by the licence to use only the newer one.
So we're only protected against bugs that limit the use of the licence...
And Ulrich forgot to mention that the (L)GPL also says, that new revisions of the license will be in the same spirit.
Ah.. The spirit... Well, the GPL exists to protect the creator and the program, it would not be necessary if people were true to the spirit of things.
I guess he had some bad days and didn't thought when he started that flamefest.
Perhaps, but the reasons for his bad days are the SC, RMS, etc. And he has a few valid points. I didn't see the rest of the discussion, so I can't really comment on anything.
hugs
On Mon, Aug 20, 2001 at 09:29:20PM +0100, Luciano Miguel Ferreira Rocha wrote:
On Mon, Aug 20, 2001 at 09:38:18PM +0200, Werner Koch wrote:
And Ulrich forgot to mention that the (L)GPL also says, that new revisions of the license will be in the same spirit.
Ah.. The spirit... Well, the GPL exists to protect the creator and the program, it would not be necessary if people were true to the spirit of things.
At least in Germany, expressing the spirit which lies in a contract is a valid thing at court. You will not be able at court to push through a license not in the same spirit, but claiming to be a successor of it.
Thus, the statement about the spirit is another important element to ensure a trustworthy license.
Not sure about juristiction in other countries though ...
Jan
Luciano Rocha, strange@nsk.yi.org:
I guess he had some bad days and didn't thought when he started that flamefest.
Perhaps, but the reasons for his bad days are the SC, RMS, etc. And he has a few valid points. I didn't see the rest of the discussion, so I can't really comment on anything.
Surely it istn't the usual way for rms (as was claimed) to get involved in other peoples projects, is it? This release is really bad publicity, I think, and it does go well with what "people say". This is the first instance that somebody actully says it has happened to him. (That I know of) Do you know more? Who, where do they claim this?
Joachim