Last Call for GPLv3

"This is it. After a year and a half of debate and derision, the final last-call draft of the cornerstone open source GNU General Public License (GPL) version 3 is out for discussion.

The biggest change in the fourth and likely final draft of the GPL version 3 is that the new license will be compatible with the Apache 2.0 open source license, which is widely deployed and extremely popular. Though GPL version 3 will be compatible with Apache, the new GPL will not be compatible with GPL version 2.

"'First of all, it is important to note that upgrading is a choice,' Richard Stallman, founder of the Free Software Foundation, wrote in an essay published today about the GPL version 3. 'GPL version 2 will remain a valid license, and no disaster will happen if some programs remain under GPLv2 while others advance to GPLv3. These two licenses are incompatible, but that isn't a serious problem...'"

Complete Story

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