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Good point, the GPLv2 was very clear. The GPLv3 left me scratching my head about why, exactly, libraries, interfaces, object code, etc., were all enumerated se
by flatline 17y ago
Good point, the GPLv2 was very clear. The GPLv3 left me scratching my head about why, exactly, libraries, interfaces, object code, etc., were all enumerated separately, mangling the section about derivation into legalese that is very difficult to decipher.
- jacquesm 17y agoBecause corporations were using these to circumvent the GPL. Think of it as an evolutionary process, as the attempts to use the code released under the GPL while violating the spirit of the GPL increased in sophistication the GPL evolved to counter those abuses. This made it longer (bugfixes!).
- cdibona 17y agoDuring the GPLv3 drafting process, we joked that GPLv2 became perfect only once GPLv3 was published. I have to agree. I've been dealing with these issues since 1997 or so for companies big and small, and the gpl keeps things...interesting. Its funny ,one of the reasons we mostly release using the permissive licenses (apache 2 and sometimes bsd and mit) is that they are both usable by both commerical and gpl'd software but also because the added administrative overhead (policing use, etc) that is introduced by releasing software under the GPL isn't necessarily worth the patches you might force out of those that might use your code.