Update: FSF has now confirmed this by posting an updated GPLv3 timetable. According to Bruce Perens, discussion draft 3 of GPLv3 is due to be published on Wednesday March 28th: At the FSF general meeting today, Richard Stallman announced that the third discussion draft of GPL version 3 will be released on Wednesday and will Read more »
Intro Why this changes nothing substantial If they’re removable, is there a point? Can’t I require that others preserve my additional permissions? Permissions and requirements Intro As with any copyright licence, software developers who use any version of the GPL can also grant additional permissions to recipients for code that they hold the copyright of. Read more »
Draft 3 of GPLv3 should be out Real Soon Now, so I’d like to review some of the topics. I couldn’t find a thorough explanation of how GPLv3 will deal with the "anti-circumvention" clauses of the DMCA and it’s EU counterpart, the the EUCD (see Article 6), so here’s my layperson understanding. These laws harm Read more »
(Translations: Deutsch) To think about what free software licences should do about tivoisation, we have to understand what problems we’re trying to prevent, and how it works – so that we can ensure that it doesn’t work. How tivoisation works Why free software licences should resist tivoisation: Controlling your own computer Sustaining the free software Read more »
At last week’s GPLv3 conference, the topic of embedded GPLv3 software came up a few times. Below is something of a summary of those discussions. Georg Greve blogged about the conference, so I’ll avoid repeating what he covered. Suffice to say, it was an event the organisers can be proud of, and Tokyo is a Read more »
I wrote an editorial for LinuxDevices: How GPLv3 Tackles Licence Proliferation It’s meant as a discussion primer for what can be done in the GPL to remove reasons for people to write new licences, and to ease the problems created by new licences – such as licence incompatibility. The third discussion draft is due out Read more »
While the deal is being analysed for GPLv2 compliance, it’s a useful example of a more general case worth thinking of regarding GPLv3. The problem to be considered is: what if company A distributes some GPL’d software, and company B announces that they will not sue customers of company A. This creates a situation where Read more »
I wrote an editorial for kerneltrap.org: Linux: GPLv3, DRM, and Exceptions It’s an attempt at a review of where we are with regards to what GPLv3 will say about DRM, and what options are open for the Linux kernel developers. NOTE: my RSS feed is working again with live bookmarks. UPDATE: Discussion of this article Read more »
During the GPLv3 debate, some people have raise the question of what to do when some regulation requires that software must not be modifiable. Examples of this may include government, or standards body, regulated technology such as radios, network cards, or medical equipment. Richard Stallman offered the response that the hardware manufacturers can put that Read more »
While discussing GPLv3, some people have suggested that even when version 3 of the GPL is released, the Linux kernel developers will not have the option of using it due to copyright reasons. This is incorrect, but it is based on a real problem: The Linux kernel has no structures in place to facilitate relicensing. Read more »