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GPL Hindering Two-Way Code Sharing?

Posted by kdawson on from the thank-you-and-goodbye dept.

An anonymous reader writes "KernelTrap has some fascinating coverage of the recent rift between the OpenBSD developers and the Linux kernel developers. Proponents of the GPL defend their license for enforcing that their code can always be shared. However in the current debate the GPL is being added to BSD-licensed code, thereby preventing it from being shared back with the original authors of the code. Thus, a share-and-share-alike license is effectively preventing two-way sharing." We discussed an instance of this one-way effect a few days back.

1 of 456 comments (clear)

  1. Try "BSD license hindering code-sharing" by ElMiguel · · Score: 1, Redundant

    It's really this simple: there is no clause in the BSD license to enforce code-sharing. In fact, this is perhaps the major difference between the BSD license and the GPL, and has been often touted as an ethical advantage by many BSD license proponents. Now apparently some of them have decided that they would like to enforce code-sharing after all, but through moaning and name-calling instead of making their demands explicit in the license.

    Well, cry me a river. A license is a legal document and if you agree to one without knowing what you're doing, it's no one's fault but your own.