4 ms·

GPL is no longer on the FSF website

mikequinlan 3y ago
It looks like the latest versions (v3) are all there but earlier versions are no longer. GPLv3 https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html LGPLv3 https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.html AGPLv3 https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html FDL 1.3 https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3.html
- hlandau 3y ago
  Looks like an URL reorg, it's now here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-1.0.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-1.0.html Breaking URLs isn't good; I hope gnu.org fixes this anyway.
  - LukeShu 3y ago
    That's been the URL for a long time. It's that until a day or so ago, https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html did a 302 redirect to http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html .
- kzrdude 3y ago
  https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html has a link to "latest version" which is broken.
- TazeTSchnitzel 3y ago
  The link I gave was for the latest version, not one of the old versions!
artbristol 3y ago
They are here https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/old-licenses.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/old-licenses.html
- anonymousiam 3y ago
  It's indicative of the rift between FSF and Linux developers that the GPL v2 is on the "Old Licenses" page and "kept here for reference." I'll understate this; Linux is a fairly important project that still uses the GPL v2 license.
  - Ferret7446 3y ago
    It's infeasible for Linux to switch to GPLv3, even if Linus and every Linux dev alive today wanted to, so it's a moot point.
  - RobotToaster 3y ago
    Only because Linus supports tivoization.
    - Longhanks 3y ago
      And because Linus just does not give a fuck. He is an engineer, not a politician, and the GPLv2 to this day is serving its purpose, and Linux‘ success proves him right.
      - happymellon 3y ago
        Unless you have a parallel universe generator, I'm not sure how you could prove that sticking to the GPLv2 has been more successful than moving to V3.
        slowmovintarget 3y ago
        Its success proves that GPL v3 was not needed to spur such success. That's not a judgement on whether v3 is "better" by some measure or other. It's a realistic measure that the modifications in v3 weren't needed for Linux to continue existing and flourishing. A != B does not imply that !B = A
jgrahamc 3y ago
The page OP links to has at the top "LICENSES". If you click on it you go here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html On that page it says: "We normally use the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), specifying version 3 or any later version, but occasionally we use other free software licenses." If you click on "GNU General Public License (GNU GPL)" you go to https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL which shows GPL v3. And there is a link to older versions here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/old-licenses.html#GPL https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/old-licenses.html#...
- jorams 3y ago
  > If you click on "GNU General Public License (GNU GPL)" you go to https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL which shows GPL v3. But the links to the actual license all 404. The HTML link is the one submitted.
Rexxar 3y ago
Curiously the 404 error message has a link to the current broken page.
kleiba 3y ago
...aaaand we're back! Probably was just a mistake, and has now been fixed, as the link structure on the page now points to https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html (note the 3.0 addition). The original link submitted here (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html) also forwards to that URL now.
- LukeShu 3y ago
  Note that that's the same redirect it had been doing for a long time (except for a bit earlier today). I'm not sure what happened, since the relevant file hasn't been committed to in a while: https://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/www/licenses/.symlinks?view=log https://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/www/licenses/.sy...
TazeTSchnitzel 3y ago
As of 2023-05-05 16:54 UTC, it looks like all the links are fixed. Maybe they hastily reverted to an old site version? It looked like they had moved to a new URL structure, but not any more.

It looks like the latest versions (v3) are all there but earlier versions are no longer. GPLv3 https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html LGPLv3 https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl-3.0.html AGPLv3 https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/agpl-3.0.html FDL 1.3 https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl-1.3.html

hlandau 3y ago
Looks like an URL reorg, it's now here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-1.0.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-1.0.html Breaking URLs isn't good; I hope gnu.org fixes this anyway.
- LukeShu 3y ago
  That's been the URL for a long time. It's that until a day or so ago, https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html did a 302 redirect to http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html .
kzrdude 3y ago
https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html has a link to "latest version" which is broken.
TazeTSchnitzel 3y ago
The link I gave was for the latest version, not one of the old versions!

artbristol 3y ago

They are here https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/old-licenses.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/old-licenses.html

anonymousiam 3y ago
It's indicative of the rift between FSF and Linux developers that the GPL v2 is on the "Old Licenses" page and "kept here for reference." I'll understate this; Linux is a fairly important project that still uses the GPL v2 license.
- Ferret7446 3y ago
  It's infeasible for Linux to switch to GPLv3, even if Linus and every Linux dev alive today wanted to, so it's a moot point.
- RobotToaster 3y ago
  Only because Linus supports tivoization.
  - Longhanks 3y ago
    And because Linus just does not give a fuck. He is an engineer, not a politician, and the GPLv2 to this day is serving its purpose, and Linux‘ success proves him right.
    - happymellon 3y ago
      Unless you have a parallel universe generator, I'm not sure how you could prove that sticking to the GPLv2 has been more successful than moving to V3.
      - slowmovintarget 3y ago
        Its success proves that GPL v3 was not needed to spur such success. That's not a judgement on whether v3 is "better" by some measure or other. It's a realistic measure that the modifications in v3 weren't needed for Linux to continue existing and flourishing. A != B does not imply that !B = A

jgrahamc 3y ago

The page OP links to has at the top "LICENSES". If you click on it you go here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html On that page it says: "We normally use the GNU General Public License (GNU GPL), specifying version 3 or any later version, but occasionally we use other free software licenses." If you click on "GNU General Public License (GNU GPL)" you go to https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL which shows GPL v3. And there is a link to older versions here: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/old-licenses.html#GPL https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/old-licenses.html#...

jorams 3y ago
> If you click on "GNU General Public License (GNU GPL)" you go to https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL https://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html#GPL which shows GPL v3. But the links to the actual license all 404. The HTML link is the one submitted.

Rexxar 3y ago

Curiously the 404 error message has a link to the current broken page.

kleiba 3y ago

...aaaand we're back! Probably was just a mistake, and has now been fixed, as the link structure on the page now points to https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html (note the 3.0 addition). The original link submitted here (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html) also forwards to that URL now.

LukeShu 3y ago
Note that that's the same redirect it had been doing for a long time (except for a bit earlier today). I'm not sure what happened, since the relevant file hasn't been committed to in a while: https://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/www/licenses/.symlinks?view=log https://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewvc/www/www/licenses/.sy...

TazeTSchnitzel 3y ago

As of 2023-05-05 16:54 UTC, it looks like all the links are fixed. Maybe they hastily reverted to an old site version? It looked like they had moved to a new URL structure, but not any more.