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FSF Releases Third Draft of GPLv3

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the complaining-to-the-right-people dept.

johnsu01 writes "The Free Software Foundation has announced publication of the third discussion draft of the GNU General Public License Version 3. Because quite a few changes have been made since the previous draft and important new issues have surfaced, the drafting process has been extended and revised to encourage more feedback. The most significant changes in this draft include refinements in the "tivoization" provisions to eliminate unwanted side effects, revision of the patent provisions to prevent end-runs around the license, and further steps toward compatibility with other free software licenses. The FSF has also explicitly asked the community whether the new patent provisions should apply retroactively to the Microsoft-Novell deal."

5 of 390 comments (clear)

  1. Re:I thought it was out already?! by Tackhead · · Score: 2, Funny
    > I thought GPL3 had been out for ages at this point. You mean it's still just a draft? Talk about the glacial speed and progress of committees. How long has GPL3 taken so far - and it's still not completed?

    Hey, release early, release often.

    (Which seems as good a time as any to link to the UPS Debugger Song, better known as "Just one more hack and then I'll put it on the 'net".)

  2. Sadly... by Infinityis · · Score: 2, Funny

    I remember when freedom wasn't quite so complicated and obfuscated. With things getting so verbose and convoluted, more people will probably eschew things like GPLv3 just to keep things unpretentious.

  3. Good for lawyers by kroepoek · · Score: 2, Funny

    With such a long license, and so many companies now using free software in their products, I bet some will follow these simple steps:

    1. Open a law firm
    2. Interpret the GNU GPLv3
    3...Profit!

  4. My opinion is... by suv4x4 · · Score: 3, Funny

    IANAL, but OMG FFS FSF, GPL3 can't work AB. AFAIUI, we need GPL3 AEAP, if Novell/MS's deal 2B AMF.

  5. Shouldn't that be... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Long Answer: Nooooooooooo!
    </Anakin>