Re: Last word on GPL 3, LGPL 3 etc (original) (raw)

On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 20:48:15 +0530 Shriramana Sharma wrote:

Dear all,

I searched for dfsg and gpl 3 on Google and did not get any good results so I am asking here:

Did I miss the thread or has there not been any official announcement of the position of the Debian Project about the DFSG-freeness of the GPL 3 and LGPL 3?

First and most important: debian-legal participants cannot issue official statements on behalf of the Debian Project. I am not aware of any statement of the official Debian position about these licenses.

That said, there has been a debian-legal thread about the final text of the GNU GPL v3: it starts at http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2007/06/msg00266.html (please note that it also continues on the following month, that is to say the current month).

My personal opinion is that the GNU GPL v3 possibly meets the DFSG, but has many disadvantages that should discourage its adoption (weak copyleft in many respects, painful restrictions such as clause 5d, ...).

There has also been a thread (well, a single message with no replies, actually!) about the LGPL v3: http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2007/07/msg00014.html and a still ongoing discussion about the issues raised by GPLv2-only works linked against LGPLv3 works: http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2007/07/msg00016.html

How about the AGPL?

The GNU AGPL v3 is still unpublished, TTBOMK. There has been a thread about its first draft: http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2007/06/msg00176.html

Seems to me that GPL 3 being DFSG free is a very important thing regarding the future of Debian and Ubuntu.

This consideration, though true, should not influence the DFSG-freeness analysis of works released under the terms of the GNU GPL v3, IMHO.

Big disclaimers: IANAL, TINLA, IANADD, TINASOTODP.

-- http://frx.netsons.org/doc/nanodocs/testing_workstation_install.html Need to read a Debian testing installation walk-through? ..................................................... Francesco Poli . GnuPG key fpr == C979 F34B 27CE 5CD8 DC12 31B5 78F4 279B DD6D FCF4

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