Copyleft/guide Changeset - 163368ebf89b

...

@@ -822,96 +822,159 @@ worth noting below the three key changes that GPLv2 brought:

\item GPLv2\S3 includes more detailed requirements, including the phrase

 ``the scripts used to control compilation and installation of the

  executable'', which is a central component of current GPLv2 enforcement

  .  (GPLv2\S3 is discussed in detail in

  \S~\ref{GPLv2s3} in this tutorial).

\end{itemize}

The next chapter discusses GPLv2 in full detail, and readers who wish to dive

into the section-by-section discussion of the GPL should jump ahead now to

that chapter.  However, the most interesting fact to note here is how GPLv2

was published with little fanfare and limited commentary.  This contrasts

greatly with the creation of GPLv3.

\section{The GNU General Public License, Version 3}

RMS began drafting GPLv2.2 in mid-2002, and FSF ran a few discussion groups

during that era about new text of that license.  However, rampant violations

of the GPL required more immediate attention of FSF's licensing staff, and as

such, much of the early 2000's was spent doing GPL enforcement

work\footnote{More on GPL enforcement is discussed in \tutorialpartsplit{a

    companion tutorial, \texit{A Practical Guide to GPL

      Compliance}}{Part~\ref{gpl-compliance-guide} of this tutorial}.}.  In

2006, FSF began in earnest drafting work for GPLv3.

The GPLv3 process began in earnest in January 2006.  It became clear that

many provisions of the GPL could benefit from modification to fit new

circumstances and to reflect what the entire community learned from

experience with version 2.  Given the scale of revision it seems proper to

approach the work through public discussion in a transparent and accessible

manner.

The GPLv3 process continued through June 2007, culminating in publication of

GPLv3 and LGPLv3 on 29 June 2007, AGPLv3 on 19 November 2007, and the GCC

Runtime Library Exception on 27 January 2009.

All told, four discussion drafts of GPLv3, two discussion drafts of LGPLv3

and two discussion drafts of AGPLv3 were published and discussed.

Ultimately, FSF remained the final arbiter and publisher of the licenses, and

RMS himself their primary author, but input was sought from many parties, and

these licenses do admittedly look and read more like legislation as a result.

Nevertheless, all of the ``v3'' group are substantially better and improved

licenses.

GPLv3 and its terms are discussed in detail in Chapter\~ref{GPLv3}.

\section{The Innovation of Optional ``Or Any Later'' Version}

An interesting fact of all GPL licenses is that the are ultimate multiple

choices for use of the license.  The FSF is the primary steward of GPL (as

discussed later in \S~\ref{GPLv2s9} and \S~\ref{GPLv2s14}).  However, those

who wish to license works under GPL are not required to automatically accept

changes made by the FSF for their own copyrighted works.

Each licensor may chose three different methods of licensing, as follows:

\begin{itemize}

\item explicitly name a single version of GPL for their work (usually

  indicated in shorthand by saying the license is ``GPLv$X$-only''), or

\item name no version of the GPL, thus they allow their downstream recipients

  to select any version of the GPL they chose (usually indicated in shorthand

  by saying the license is simply ``GPL''), or

\item name a specific version of GPL and give downstream recipients the

  option to chose that version ``or any later version as published by the

  FSF'' (usually indicated by saying the license is

  ``GPLv$X$-or-later'')\footnote{The shorthand of ``GPL$X+$'' is also popular

    for this situation.  The authors of this tutorial prefer ``-or-later''

    syntax, because it (a) mirrors the words ``or'' and ``later from the

    licensing statement, (b) the $X+$ doesn't make it abundantly clear that

    $X$ is clearly included as a license option and (c) the $+$ symbol has

    other uses in computing (such as with regular expressions) that mean

    something different.}

\end{itemize}

\label{license-compatibility-first-mentioned}

Oddly, this flexibility has received (in the opinion of the authors, undue)

criticism, primarily because of the complex and oft-debated notion of

``license compatibility'' (which is explained in detail in

\S~\ref{license-compatibility}).  Copyleft licenses are generally

incompatible with each other, because the details of how they implement

copyleft differs.  Specifically, copyleft works only because of its

requirement that downstream licensors use the \texit{same} license for

combined and modified works.  As such, software licensed under the terms of

``GPLv2-only'' cannot be combined with works licensed ``GPLv3-or-later''.

This is admittedly a frustrating outcome.

Other copyleft licenses that appeared after GPL, such

as the Creative Commons ``Share Alike'' licenses, the Eclipse Public License

and the Mozilla Public License \textbf{require} all copyright holders chosing

to use any version of those licenses to automatically accept and relicense

their copyrighted works under new versions.  Of course ,Creative Commons, the

Eclipse Foundation, and the Mozilla Foundation (like the FSF) have generally

served as excellent stewards of their licenses.  Copyright holders using

those licenses seems to find it acceptable that to fully delegate all future

licensing decisions for their copyrights to these organizations without a

second thought.

However, note that FSF gives herein the control of copyright holders to

decide whether or not to implicitly trust the FSF in its work of drafting

future GPL versions.  The FSF, for its part, does encourage copyright holders

to chose by default ``GPLv$X$-or-later'' (where $X$ is the most recent

version of the GPL published by the FSF).  However, the FSF \textbf{does not

  mandate} that a choice to use any GPL requires a copyright holder ceding

its authority for future licensing decisions to the FSF.  In fact, the FSF

considered this possibility for GPLv3 and chose not to do so, instead opting

for the third-party steward designation clause discussed in

Section~\ref{GPlv3S14}.

\section{Complexities of Two Simultaneously Popular Copylefts}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\chapter{GPLv2: Running Software and Verbatim Copying}

\label{run-and-verbatim}

This chapter begins the deep discussion of the details of the terms of

GPLv2\@. In this chapter, we consider the first two sections: GPLv2 \S\S

0--2. These are the straightforward sections of the GPL that define the

simplest rights that the user receives.

\section{GPLv2 \S 0: Freedom to Run}

\label{GPLs0}

\S 0, the opening section of GPLv2, sets forth that the work is governed by

copyright law. It specifically points out that it is the ``copyright

holder'' who decides if a work is licensed under its terms and explains

how the copyright holder might indicate this fact.

A bit more subtly, \S 0 makes an inference that copyright law is the only

system under which it is governed. Specifically, it states:

\begin{quote}

Activities other than copying, distribution and modification are not

covered by this License; they are outside its scope.

\end{quote}

In essence, the license governs \emph{only} those activities, and all other

activities are unrestricted, provided that no other agreements trump GPLv2

(which they cannot; see Sections~\ref{GPLs6} and~\ref{GPLs7}). This is

very important, because the Free Software community heavily supports

users' rights to ``fair use'' and ``unregulated use'' of copyrighted

material. GPLv2 asserts through this clause that it supports users' rights

to fair and unregulated uses.

Fair use of copyrighted material is an established legal doctrine that

permits certain activities. Discussion of the various types of fair

use activity are beyond the scope of this tutorial. However, one

important example of fair use is the right to quote a very few lines

(less than seven or so) and reuse them as you would with or without

licensing restrictions.

Fair use is a doctrine established by the courts or by statute. By

contrast, unregulated uses are those that are not covered by the statue

nor determined by a court to be covered, but are common and enjoyed by

many users. An example of unregulated use is reading a printout of the

program's source code like an instruction book for the purpose of learning

...

@@ -2033,112 +2096,115 @@ interpreted only as broadly as allowed by applicable law. Such a

provision ensures that both it, and the entire GPL, is enforceable in any

jurisdiction, regardless of any particular law regarding the

permissibility of certain warranty disclaimers.

Finally, one important point to remember when reading \S 11 is that \S 1

permits the sale of warranty as an additional service, which \S 11 affirms.

\section{GPLv2 \S 12: Limitation of Liability}

\label{GPLs12}

There are many types of warranties, and in some jurisdictions some of them

cannot be disclaimed. Therefore, usually agreements will have both a

warranty disclaimer and a limitation of liability, as we have in \S 12. \S

11 thus gets rid of all implied warranties that can legally be

disavowed. \S 12, in turn, limits the liability of the actor for any

warranties that cannot legally be disclaimed in a particular jurisdiction.

Again, some have argued the GPL is unenforceable in some jurisdictions

because its limitation of liability is impermissibly broad. However, \S

12, just like its sister, \S 11, contains a jurisdictional savings

provision, which states that it is to be interpreted only as broadly as

allowed by applicable law. As stated above, such a provision ensures that

both \S 12, and the entire GPL, is enforceable in any jurisdiction,

regardless of any particular law regarding the permissibility of limiting

liability.

So end the terms and conditions of the GNU General Public License.

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\chapter{GPLv3}

\label{GPLv3}

\section{Understanding GPLv3 As An Upgraded GPLv2}

\section{GPLv3 \S 0: Giving In On ``Defined Terms''}

\section{GPLv3 \S 1: Understanding CCS}

\section{GPLv3 \S 2: Basic Permissions}

\section{GPLv3 \S 3: What Hath DMCA Wrought}

\label{GPLv3s3}

\section{GPLv3 \S 4: Verbatim Copying}

\section{GPLv3 \S 5: Modified Source}

\section{GPLv3 \S 6: Non-Source and Corresponding Source}

\section{Understanding License Compatibility}

\label{license-compatibility}

\section{GPLv3 \S 7: Explicit Compatibility}

\section{GPLv3 \S 8: A Lighter Termination}

\section{GPLv3 \S 9: Acceptance}

\section{GPLv3 \S 10: Explicit Downstream License}

\section{GPLv3 \S 11: Explicit Patent Licensing}

\label{GPLv3s11}

\section{GPLv3 \S 12: Familiar as GPLv2 \S 7}

\section{GPLv3 \S 13: The Great Affero Compromise}

\section{GPLv3 \S 14: So, When's GPLv4?}

\label{GPlv2s14}

\section{GPLv3 \S 15--17: Warranty Disclaimers and Liability Limitation}

%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

\chapter{The Lesser GPL}

As we have seen in our consideration of the GPL, its text is specifically

designed to cover all possible derivative works under copyright law. Our

goal in designing GPL was to make sure that any derivative work of GPL'd

software was itself released under GPL when distributed. Reaching as far

as copyright law will allow is the most direct way to reach that goal.

However, while the strategic goal is to bring as much Free Software

into the world as possible, particular tactical considerations

regarding software freedom dictate different means. Extending the

copyleft effect as far as copyright law allows is not always the most

prudent course in reaching the goal. In particular situations, even

those of us with the goal of building a world where all published

software is Free Software realize that full copyleft does not best

serve us. The GNU Lesser General Public License (``GNU LGPL'') was

designed as a solution for such situations.

\section{The First LGPL'd Program}

The first example that FSF encountered where such altered tactics were

needed was when work began on the GNU C Library. The GNU C Library would

become (and today, now is) a drop-in replacement for existing C libraries.

On a Unix-like operating system, C is the lingua franca and the C library

is an essential component for all programs. It is extremely difficult to

construct a program that will run with ease on a Unix-like operating

system without making use of services provided by the C library --- even

if the program is written in a language other than C\@. Effectively, all

user application programs that run on any modern Unix-like system must

make use of the C library.

By the time work began on the GNU implementation of the C libraries, there

were already many C libraries in existence from a variety of vendors.

Every proprietary Unix vendor had one, and many third parties produced

smaller versions for special purpose use. However, our goal was to create

a C library that would provide equivalent functionality to these other C

libraries on a Free Software operating system (which in fact happens today

on modern GNU/Linux systems, which all use the GNU C Library).

Unlike existing GNU application software, however, the licensing

implications of releasing the GNU C Library (``glibc'') under GPL were

somewhat different. Applications released under GPL would never

themselves become part of proprietary software. However, if glibc were

released under GPL, it would require that any application distributed for