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If you've ever read some ToA, or EULA, you won't find GPL that bad regarding the language and length. Also, simplified/explained versions exists, which should m

If you've ever read some ToA, or EULA, you won't find GPL that bad regarding the language and length. Also, simplified/explained versions exists, which should make it more digestible. As the author of the article said, it's a tool, and you may or may not use it. Don't downplay the need for a copyleft licence (which a cool hack around copyright, if you ask me): some people use is from a philosophical reason, and some - as the basis for their entire business model.

mixologic 11y ago
Reading the GPL at length, it seems as though it were written as if the only build process were C, and the only way to run software was on a single computer. The GPL is unclear when it comes to how it applies to something as complex as a content management system that could be deployed and running as a single service across multiple servers. The language it uses (linking, distribution, even 'code' itself) is ambiguous. And apparently the only clear way to ensure that you are in compliance with it is a shakedown from the Software Freedom Conservancy to grant you permission to use it in ways it was never written to handle. The principles of copyleft are tremendously valuable, I just wish we had a modern license that reflected the reality of the modern internet, and modern software.
- yrro 11y ago
  Like GPL3 or AGPL?
  - anon1385 11y ago
    A lot of GPL advocates don't like the AGPL. Presumably because they make a living from proprietary web apps that use GPL'd code.
- timonovici 11y ago
  Yeah, its age is showing, truth to be told. That's why we have now AGPL for network programs, and LGPL for libraries. About the ambiguity - my feeling about it is that they (Stallman and the lawyers, I suppose) leaned towards the usual way these documents are done, to make the licence more general - which irks us, the programmers. For a lawyer, "the code" is a good enough term. I agree with you on having a new copyleft licence - but I'm afraid is hard to get something even to match GPL, and worse - you can step in the same, or other subtle traps as the initial versions of the GPL did - that tivoization stuff was nasty as hell. If only some of the licenses would "die" eventually, but the process reminds me of this comic - https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/

mixologic 11y ago

Reading the GPL at length, it seems as though it were written as if the only build process were C, and the only way to run software was on a single computer. The GPL is unclear when it comes to how it applies to something as complex as a content management system that could be deployed and running as a single service across multiple servers. The language it uses (linking, distribution, even 'code' itself) is ambiguous. And apparently the only clear way to ensure that you are in compliance with it is a shakedown from the Software Freedom Conservancy to grant you permission to use it in ways it was never written to handle. The principles of copyleft are tremendously valuable, I just wish we had a modern license that reflected the reality of the modern internet, and modern software.

yrro 11y ago
Like GPL3 or AGPL?
- anon1385 11y ago
  A lot of GPL advocates don't like the AGPL. Presumably because they make a living from proprietary web apps that use GPL'd code.
timonovici 11y ago
Yeah, its age is showing, truth to be told. That's why we have now AGPL for network programs, and LGPL for libraries. About the ambiguity - my feeling about it is that they (Stallman and the lawyers, I suppose) leaned towards the usual way these documents are done, to make the licence more general - which irks us, the programmers. For a lawyer, "the code" is a good enough term. I agree with you on having a new copyleft licence - but I'm afraid is hard to get something even to match GPL, and worse - you can step in the same, or other subtle traps as the initial versions of the GPL did - that tivoization stuff was nasty as hell. If only some of the licenses would "die" eventually, but the process reminds me of this comic - https://xkcd.com/927/ https://xkcd.com/927/