termination cannot be cured by obtaining additional copies from an alternate

supplier: the license permissions emanate only from the original licensors,

and if they have automatically terminated permission, no act by any

intermediate license holder can restore those terminated

rights\footnote{While nearly all attorneys and copyleft theorists are in

  agreement on this point, German copyleft legal expert

  \href{http://www.jbb.de/en/attorneys/till-jaeger/}{Till Jaeger}

  vehemently disagrees.  Jaeger's position is as follows: under German

  copyright law, a new copy of GPL'd software is a ``fresh'' license under

  GPL, and if compliance continues from that point further, the violator's

  permissions under copyright law are automatically restored, notwithstanding

  the strict termination provision in \hyperref[GPLv2s4]{GPLv2~\S4}.

  However, in

  practice, this issue is only salient with regard to \hyperref[Proprietary

    Relicensing]{proprietary relicensing} business models, since other copyright

  holders typically formally restore distributions rights once the only

  remaining compliance issue is ``you lost copyright permission due to

  GPLv2~\S4''.  Therefore, the heated debates, which have raged between

  Jaeger and almost everyone else in the copyleft community for nearly a

  decade, regard an almost moot and wholly esoteric legal detail.}.

\section{GPLv2~\S7: ``Give Software Liberty or Give It Death!''}

\label{GPLv2s7}

In essence, GPLv2~\S7 is a verbosely worded way of saying for non-copyright

systems what GPLv2~\S6 says for copyright.  If there exists any reason that a

distributor knows of that would prohibit later licensees from exercising

their full rights under GPL, then distribution is prohibited.

Originally, this was designed as the title of this section suggests --- as

a last ditch effort to make sure that freedom was upheld.  However, in

modern times, it has come to give much more.  Now that the body of GPL'd

software is so large, patent holders who would want to be distributors of

GPL'd software have a tough choice.  They must choose between avoiding

distribution of GPL'd software that exercises the teachings of their

patents, or grant a royalty-free, irrevocable, non-exclusive license to

those patents.  Many companies have chosen the latter.

Thus, GPLv2~\S7 rarely gives software death by stopping its distribution.

Instead, it is inspiring patent holders to share their patents in the same

freedom-defending way that they share their copyrighted works.

\section{GPLv2~\S8: Excluding Problematic Jurisdictions}

\label{GPLv2s8}

GPLv2~\S8 is rarely used by copyright holders.  Its intention is that if a

particular country, say Unfreedonia, grants particular patents or allows

copyrighted interfaces (no country to our knowledge even permits those

yet), that the GPLv2'd software can continue in free and unabated

distribution in the countries where such controls do not exist.

As far as is currently known, GPLv2~\S8 has very rarely been formally used by

copyright holders.  Admittedly, some have used GPLv2~\S8 to explain various

odd special topics of distribution (usually related in some way to

GPLv2~\S7).  However, generally speaking, this section is not proven

particularly useful in the more than two decades of GPLv2 history.

Meanwhile, despite many calls by the FSF (and others) for those licensors who

explicitly use this section to come forward and explain their reasoning, no

one ever did.  Furthermore, research conducted during the GPLv3 drafting

process found exactly one licensor who had invoked this section to add an

explicit geographical distribution limitation, and the reasoning for that one

invocation was not fitting with FSF's intended spirit of GPLv2~\S8.  As such,

GPLv2~\S8 was not included at all in GPLv3.

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

\chapter{Odds, Ends, and Absolutely No Warranty}

GPLv2~\S\S0--7 constitute the freedom-defending terms of the GPLv2.  The remainder

of the GPLv2 handles administrivia and issues concerning warranties and

liability.

\section{GPLv2~\S9: FSF as Stewards of GPL}

\label{GPLv2s9}

FSF reserves the exclusive right to publish future versions of the GPL\@;

GPLv2~\S9 expresses this.  While the stewardship of the copyrights on the body

of GPL'd software around the world is shared among thousands of

individuals and organizations, the license itself needs a single steward.

Forking of the code is often regrettable but basically innocuous.  Forking

of licensing is disastrous.

(Chapter~\ref{tale-of-two-copylefts} discusses more about the various

versions of GPL.)

\section{GPLv2~\S10: Relicensing Permitted}

\label{GPLv2s10}

GPLv2~\S10 reminds the licensee of what is already implied by the nature of

copyright law.  Namely, the copyright holder of a particular software

program has the prerogative to grant alternative agreements under separate

copyright licenses.

\section{GPLv2~\S11: No Warranty}

\label{GPLv2s11}

\href{http://www.law.cornell.edu/ucc/2/2-316}{Uniform Commercial

  Code~\S2-316} requires that disclaimers of warranty be ``conspicuous''.

There is apparently general acceptance that \textsc{all caps} is the

preferred way to make something conspicuous, and that has over decades worked

its way into the voodoo tradition of warranty disclaimer writing.

That said, there is admittedly some authority under USA law suggesting that

capitalization and is absent when a disclaimer has the same typeface as the

terms surrounding it (see \textit{Stevenson v.~TRW, Inc.}, 987 F.2d 288, 296

(5th Cir.~1993)).  While GPLv3's drafters doubted that such authority would

apply to copyright licenses like the GPL, the FSF has nevertheless left

warranty and related disclaimers in \textsc{all caps} throughout all versions

of GPL\@\footnote{One of the authors of this tutorial, Bradley M.~Kuhn, has

  often suggested the aesthetically preferable compromise of a

  \textsc{specifically designed ``small caps'' font, such as this one, as an

    alternative to} WRITING IN ALL CAPS IN THE DEFAULT FONT (LIKE THIS),

  since the latter adds more ugliness than conspicuousness.  Kuhn once

  engaged in reversion war with a lawyer who disagreed, but that lawyer never

  answered Kuhn's requests for case law that argues THIS IS INHERENTLY MORE

  CONSPICUOUS \textsc{Than this is}.}.

Some have argued the GPL is unenforceable in some jurisdictions because

its disclaimer of warranties is impermissibly broad.  However, GPLv2~\S11

contains a jurisdictional savings provision, which states that it is to be

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 GPLv2~\S11 is that GPLv2~\S1

permits the sale of warranty as an additional service, which GPLv2~\S11 affirms.

\section{GPLv2~\S12: Limitation of Liability}

\label{GPLv2s12}

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 GPLv2~\S12.

GPLv2~\S11 thus gets rid of all implied warranties that can legally be

disavowed. GPLv2~\S12, 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, GPLv2~\S11, 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 GPLv2~\S12, 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{GPL Version 3}

\label{GPLv3}

This chapter discusses the text of GPLv3.  Much of this material herein

includes text that was adapted (with permission) from text that FSF

originally published as part of the so-called ``rationale documents'' for the

various discussion drafts of GPLv3.

The FSF ran a somewhat public process to develop GPLv3, and it was the first

attempt of its kind to develop a Free Software license this way.  Ultimately,

RMS was the primary author of GPLv3, but he listened to feedback from all

sorts of individuals and even for-profit companies.  Nevertheless, in

attempting to understand GPLv3 after the fact, the materials available from

the GPLv3 process have a somewhat ``drinking from the firehose'' effect.

This chapter seeks to explain GPLv3 to newcomers, who perhaps are familiar

with GPLv2 and who did not participate in the GPLv3 process.

Those who wish to drink from the firehose and take a diachronic approach to

GPLv3 study by reading the step-by-step public drafting process of the GPLv3 (which

occurred from Monday 16 January 2006 through Monday 19 November 2007) should

visit \url{http://gplv3.fsf.org/}.

\section{Understanding GPLv3 As An Upgraded GPLv2}

Ultimately, GPLv2 and GPLv3 co-exist as active licenses in regular use.  As

discussed in Chapter~\ref{tale-of-two-copylefts}, GPLv1 was never regularly

used alongside GPLv2.  However, given GPLv2's widespread popularity and

existing longevity by the time GPLv3 was published, it is not surprising that

some licensors still prefer GPLv2-only or GPLv2-or-later.  GPLv3 gained major

adoption by many projects, old and new, but many projects have not upgraded

due to (in some cases) mere laziness and (in other cases) policy preference

for some of GPLv2's terms and/or policy opposition to GPLv3's terms.

Given this ``two GPLs world'' is reality, it makes sense to consider GPLv3 in

terms of how it differs from GPLv2.  Also, most of the best GPL experts in

the world must deal regularly with both licenses, and admittedly have decades

of experience with GPLv2 while the most experience with GPLv3 that's possible

is by default less than a decade.  These two factors usually cause even new

students of GPL to start with GPLv2 and move on to GPLv3, and this tutorial

follows that pattern.

Overall, the changes made in GPLv3 admittedly \textit{increased} the

complexity of the license.  The FSF stated at the start of the GPLv3 process

that they would have liked to oblige those who have asked for a simpler and

shorter GPL\@.  Ultimately, the FSF gave priority to making GPLv3 a better

copyleft license in the spirit of past GPL's.  Obsession for concision should

never trump software freedom.

The FSF had many different, important goals in seeking to upgrade to GPLv3.