Linux lab calls for: the faster the GPL, the better

Open-source development lab calls for an explanation of how to integrate the current GPL-constrained code with the next version of GPL-constrained code.

Open source development lab said on Wednesday: the Free Software Foundation urgently needs to explain how the current GPL-constrained software will be affected by the later version of the GPL in the development stage.

General Public License (GPL) limits numerous projects in the open-source and free software fields. The most striking example is the Linux kernel, but it also includes large projects such as the GCC compiler, Samba file server software, and MySQL database. The second version of GPL was released in 1991. The foundation is drafting a subsequent version to address new issues such as software patents and digital rights management.

"FSF lawyers Eben Moglen met with members of the company's Power Committee in Chicago on Tuesday and Wednesday," said Stuart Cohen, osdl ceo ." There, they raised a question that ODSL heard from many related organizations. Cohen said: "How will GPLv2 and GPLv3 software coexist ?"

Cohen also said: "We have been in this situation for nine months. It is time to clarify things. FSF should document and describe what these rules are ."

However, Moglen has different opinions on this and points out that he is unlikely to clarify the matter now.

He told CNET News.com: "In my opinion, it is too early to comment on the relationship between GPLv2 license code and GPLv3 license code before the final terms of GPLv3 are released, but in any case, this is not a problem for me."

Moglen's position is not the first time facing pressure from the common interests of GPLv3.

Moglen worries about Hewlett-Packard that the draft GPLv3 currently has unacceptable patent terms and does not take seriously. "The relationship between GPLv2 and GPLv3 was also discussed at a conference in Chicago," said Cohen ." He added: "the 47 members of the participating Committee B are representatives of HP, IBM, Apple Computer, Novell, Trolltech, Red Hat, and Hitachi, this reflects the importance of these licenses in the computer industry."

OSDL, funded by many computer companies, has hired Linus Torvalds. Torvalds, the founding and leader of Linux, to express their exclusive dislike of GPLv3 and to comment on FSF methods.

FSF recommendation program developers use clear terms to indicate that their projects are subject to GPLv2 or later version constraints when licensing their software. Torvalds has explicitly chosen to only use GPLv2.

FSF founder Richard Stallman also criticized OSDL. Last week, he criticized an OSDL project and pointed out that it could not be worse, as a warning to open-source planning in the patent field.