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Bradley Kuhn (bkuhn) - 10 years ago 2014-03-20 12:02:05
bkuhn@ebb.org
Move this text out of the way from discussion of section 2.
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@@ -2414,198 +2414,192 @@ The definition of CCS\footnote{Note that the preferred term for those who
 
  longer appears in GPLv3 (which uses the word ``all'' instead).  However,
 
  both GPLv2 and the early drafts of GPLv3 itself used the word ``complete'',
 
  and early GPLv3 drafts even called this defined term ``Complete
 
  Corresponding Source''.  Meanwhile, use of the acronym ``CCS'' (sometimes,
 
  ``C\&CS'') was so widespread among GPL enforcers that its use continues
 
  even though GPLv3-focused experts tend to say just the defined term of
 
  ``Corresponding Source''.}, or, as GPLv3 officially calls it,
 
``Corresponding Source'' in GPLv3~\S1\P4 is possibly the most complex
 
definition in the license.
 

	
 
The CCS definition is broad so as to protect users' exercise of their rights
 
under the GPL\@.  The definition includes with particular examples to remove
 
any doubt that they are to be considered CCS\@.  GPLv3 seeks to make it
 
completely clear that a licensee cannot avoid complying with the requirements
 
of the GPL by dynamically linking a subprogram component to the original
 
version of a program.  The example also clarifies that the shared libraries
 
and dynamically linked subprograms that are included in Corresponding Source
 
are those that the work is ``specifically'' designed to require, which
 
clarifies that they do not include libraries invoked by the work that can be
 
readily substituted by other existing implementations.  While copyleft
 
advocates never doubted this was required under GPLv2's definition of CCS,
 
making it abundantly clear with an extra example.
 

	
 
GPL, as always, seeks to ensure users are truly in a position to install and
 
run their modified versions of the program; the CCS definition is designed to
 
be expansive to ensure this software freedom.  However, although the
 
definition of CCS is expansive, it is not sufficient to protect users'
 
freedoms in many circumstances.  For example, a GPL'd program, or a modified
 
version of such a program, might be locked-down and restricted.  The
 
requirements in GPLv3~\S6 (discussed in Section~\ref{GPLv3s6} of this
 
tutorial) handle that issue.  (Early drafts of GPLv3 included those
 
requirements in the definition of CCS; however, given that the lock-down
 
issue only comes up in distribution of object code, it is more logical to
 
place those requirements with the parts of GPLv3 dealing directly with object
 
code distribution).
 

	
 
The penultimate paragraph in GPLv3\S2 notes that GPLv3's CCS definition does
 
not require source that can be automatically generated.  Many code
 
generators, preprocessors and take source code as input and sometimes even
 
have output that is still source code.  Source code should always be whatever
 
the original programmer preferred to modify.
 

	
 
GPLv3\S1's final paragraph removes any ambiguity about what should be done on
 
source-only distributions.  Specifically, the right to convey source code
 
that does not compile, does not work, or otherwise is experimental
 
in-progress work is fully permitted, \textit{provided that} no object code
 
form is conveyed as well.  Indeed, when combined with the permissions in
 
GPLv3\S~5, it is clear that if one conveys \texti{only} source code, one can
 
never be required to provide more than that.  One always has the right to
 
modify a source code work by deleting any part of it, and there can be no
 
requirement that free software source code be a whole functioning program.
 

	
 
\section{The System Library Exception}
 

	
 
The previous section skipped over one part of the CCS definition, the
 
so-called system library exception.  The ``System Libraries'' definition (and
 
the ``Standard Interface'' and ``Major Component'' definitions, which it
 
includes) are designed as part
 

	
 
to permit certain distribution arrangements that are considered reasonable by
 
copyleft advocates.  The system library exception is designed to allow
 
copylefted software to link with these libraries when such linking would hurt
 
software freedom more than it would hurt proprietary software.
 

	
 
The system library exception has two parts.  Part (a) rewords the GPLv2
 
exception for clarity replaces GPLv2's words ``unless that component itself
 
accompanies the executable'' with ``which is not part of the Major
 
Component''.  The goal here is to not require disclosure of source code of
 
certain libraries, such as necessary Microsoft Windows DLLs (which aren't
 
part of Windows' kernel but accompany it) that are required for functioning
 
of copylefted programs compiled for Windows.
 

	
 
However, in isolation, (a) would be too permissive, as it would sometimes
 
allowing distributors to evade important GPL requirements.  Part (b) reigns
 
in (a).  Specifically, (b) specifies only a few functionalities that a the
 
system library may provide and still qualify for the exception.  The goal is
 
to ensure system libraries are truly adjunct to a major essential operating
 
system component, compiler, or interpreter.  The more low-level the
 
functionality provided by the library, the more likely it is to be qualified
 
for this exception.
 

	
 
Admittedly, the system library exception is a frequently discussed topic of
 
obsessed GPL theorists.  The amount that has been written on the system
 
library exception (both the GPLv2 and GPLv3 versions of it), if included
 
herein,  could easily increase this section of the tutorial to a length
 
greater than all the others.
 

	
 
Like any exception to the copyleft requirements of GPL, would-be GPL
 
violators frequently look to the system library exception as a potential
 
software freedom circumvention technique.  When considering whether or not a
 
library qualifies for the system library exception, here is a pragmatic
 
thesis to consider, based on the combined decades of experience in GPL
 
interpretation of this tutorial's authors: the harder and more strained the
 
reader must study and read the system library exception, the more likely it
 
is that the library in question does not qualify for it.
 

	
 
% FIXME: These don't belong here
 

	
 
It is important to note that section 11, paragraph 3 refers to a work that is
 
conveyed, and section 10, paragraph 2 refers to a kind of automatic
 
counterpart to conveying achieved as the result of a transaction. 
 

	
 
\section{GPLv3~\S2: Basic Permissions}
 

	
 
% FIXME: phrase ``unmodified Program'' appears due to User Products exception
 

	
 
We have included the first sentence of section 2 to further internationalize
 
the GPL. Under the copyright laws of some countries, it may be necessary for
 
a copyright license to include an explicit provision setting forth the
 
duration of the rights being granted. In other countries, including the
 
United States, such a provision is unnecessary but permissible.
 

	
 
The first paragraph of section 2 also acknowledges that licensees under the
 
GPL enjoy rights of copyright fair use, or the equivalent under applicable
 
law. These rights are compatible with, and not in conflict with, the freedoms
 
that the GPL seeks to protect, and the GPL cannot and should not restrict
 
them.
 

	
 
% FIXME: propagate and convey
 

	
 
Section 2 distinguishes between activities of a licensee that are permitted
 
without limitation and activities that trigger additional requirements. The
 
second paragraph of section 2 guarantees the basic freedoms of privately
 
modifying and running the program. However, the right to privately modify and
 
run the program is terminated if the licensee brings a patent infringement
 
lawsuit against anyone for activities relating to a work based on the
 
program.
 

	
 
% FIXME:  transition, and some word smith
 
The explicit prohibition of sublicensing ensures that enforcement of the GPL
 
is always by the copyright holder.  Usually, sublicensing is regarded as a
 
practical convenience or necessity for the licensee, to avoid having to
 
negotiate a license with each licensor in a chain of distribution.  The GPL
 
solves this problem in another way, through its automatic licensing
 
provision.
 

	
 
% FIXME: new section here, just to talk DRM before the other section.
 

	
 
GPLv3 introduces provisions that respond to the growing practice of
 
distributing GPL-covered programs in devices that employ technical means
 
to restrict users from installing and running modified versions.  This
 
practice thwarts the expectations of developers and users alike, because
 
the right to modify is one of the core freedoms the GPL is designed to
 
secure.
 

	
 
Technological measures to defeat users' rights --- often described by such
 
Orwellian phrases as ``digital rights management,'' which actually means
 
limitation or outright destruction of users' legal rights, or ``trusted
 
computing,'' which actually means selling people computers they cannot trust
 
--- are alike in one basic respect.  They all employ technical means to turn
 
the system of copyright law, where the powers of the copyright holder are
 
limited exceptions to general freedom, into a prison, where everything not
 
specifically permitted is utterly forbidden, and indeed, if the full extent
 
of their ambition is realized, would be technically impossible.  This system
 
of ``para-copyright'' has been created since the adoption of GPLv2, through
 
legislation in the United States, the European Union, and elsewhere that
 
makes it a serious civil or even criminal offense to escape from these
 
restrictions, even where the purpose in doing so is to restore the users'
 
legal rights that the technology wrongfully prevents them from exercising.
 

	
 
% FIXME: Remove FSF specific parts
 

	
 
As a digital rights organization, we would not be following our mission if we
 
did not oppose these injustices.  But the reason our license must respond to
 
these practices at all is the result of a remarkable irony. Those who wish to
 
impose DRM on the public would like to do so by using software covered by the
 
GPL, a license that is intended to preserve the very freedom that they seek
 
to crush.  They are not satisfied merely with publishing programs having
 
limited capability, which free software permits. They seek to go further, to
 
prevent the user from removing those limits, turning Freedom 1, the freedom
 
to modify, into a sham.
 

	
 
GPLv2 did not address the use of technical measures to take back the rights
 
that the GPL granted, because such measures did not exist in 1991, and would
 
have been irrelevant to the forms in which software was then delivered to
 
users.  But GPLv3 must address these issues: free software is ever more
 
widely embedded in devices that impose technical limitations on the user's
 
freedom to change it.
 

	
 
These unjust measures must not be confused with legitimate applications that
 
give users control, as by enabling them to choose higher levels of system or
 
data security within their networks, or by allowing them to protect the
 
security of their communications using keys they can generate or copy to
 
other devices for sending or receiving messages.  These technologies present
 
no obstacles to the freedom of free software. The user is presented with
 
choices, and figuratively as well as literally retains all the keys to the
 
digital home.
 

	
 
By contrast, technical restrictions that allow other parties to control the
 
user have no legitimate social purpose.  In existing applications where the
 
user is not afforded the same degree of real power to modify the free
 
software in his system that vendors or distributors have retained, or have
 
conveyed to third parties, the software has been delivered in a fashion that
 
violates the spirit of the GPL, regardless of whether it complies with the
 
letter of the license. The freedoms the GPL grants have actually been
 
withdrawn by technical means.  It may even be a crime for the user to modify
 
that free software to escape from those restrictions and regain control over
 
what is still, at least nominally, his own system.
...
 
@@ -3452,192 +3446,198 @@ termination procedure given in section 8 of GPLv3.
 

	
 
Some have questioned whether section 7 is needed, and some have suggested
 
that it creates complexity that did not previously exist.  We point out to
 
those readers that there is already GPLv2-licensed code that carries
 
additional terms.  One of the objectives of section 7 is to rationalize
 
existing practices of program authors and modifiers by setting clear
 
guidelines regarding the removal and addition of such terms.  With its
 
carefully limited list of allowed additional requirements, section 7
 
accomplishes additional objectives, permitting the expansion of the base of
 
code available for GPL developers, while also encouraging useful
 
experimentation with requirements we do not include in the GPL itself.
 

	
 
\section{GPLv3~\S8: A Lighter Termination}
 

	
 
% FIXME:  probably mostly still right, needs some updates, though.
 

	
 
GPLv2 provided for automatic termination of the rights of a person who
 
copied, modified, sublicensed, or distributed a work in violation of the
 
license.  Automatic termination can be too harsh for those who have committed
 
an inadvertent violation, particularly in cases involving distribution of
 
large collections of software having numerous copyright holders.  A violator
 
who resumes compliance with GPLv2 would need to obtain forgiveness from all
 
copyright holders, but even to contact them all might be impossible.
 

	
 
% FIXME: needs to be updated to describe more complex termination
 

	
 
Section 8 of GPLv3 replaces automatic termination with a non-automatic
 
termination process.  Any copyright holder for the licensed work may opt to
 
terminate the rights of a violator of the license, provided that the
 
copyright holder has first given notice of the violation within 60 days of
 
its most recent occurrence. A violator who has been given notice may make
 
efforts to enter into compliance and may request that the copyright holder
 
agree not exercise the right of termination; the copyright holder may choose
 
to grant or refuse this request.
 

	
 
% FIXME: needs to be updated to describe more complex termination
 

	
 
If a licensee who is in violation of GPLv3 acts to correct the violation and
 
enter into compliance, and the licensee receives no notice of the past
 
violation within 60 days, then the licensee need not worry about termination
 
of rights under the license.
 

	
 
In Draft 3 the termination provision of section 8 has been revised to
 
indicate that, if a licensee violates the GPL, a contributor may terminate
 
any patent licenses that it granted under the first paragraph of section 11
 
to that licensee, in addition to any copyright permissions the contributor
 
granted to the licensee.  Therefore, a contributor may terminate the patent
 
licenses it granted to a downstream licensee who brings patent infringement
 
litigation in violation of section 10.
 

	
 
We have made two substantive changes to section 8.  First, we have clarified
 
that patent rights granted under the GPL are among the rights that a
 
copyright holder may terminate under section 8.  Therefore, a contributor who
 
grants a patent license under the first paragraph of section 11 may terminate
 
that patent license, just as that contributor may terminate copyright rights,
 
to a downstream recipient who has violated the license.  We think that this
 
is a reasonable result, and was already implicit in the wording of the
 
termination provision in our earlier drafts.  Moreover, this clarification
 
should encourage patent holders to make contributions to GPL-covered
 
programs.
 

	
 
Second, we have modified the termination procedure by providing a limited
 
opportunity to cure license violations, an improvement that was requested by
 
many different members of our community.  If a licensee has committed a
 
first-time violation of the GPL with respect to a given copyright holder, but
 
the licensee cures the violation within 30 days following receipt of notice
 
of the violation, then any of the licensee's GPL rights that have been
 
terminated by the copyright holder are ``automatically reinstated.''  The
 
addition of the cure opportunity achieves a better balance than our earlier
 
section 8 drafts between facilitating enforcement of the license and
 
protecting inadvertent violators against unfair results.
 

	
 
We have restructured the form of section 8 by replacing non-automatic
 
termination with automatic termination coupled with opportunities for
 
provisional and permanent reinstatement of rights.  The revised wording does
 
not alter the underlying policy or details of procedure established in the
 
previous drafts, including the 60-day period of repose and 30-day cure
 
opportunity for first-time violators.  The restoration of automatic
 
termination was motivated in part to facilitate enforcement in European
 
countries.  We also believe the revised wording will be easier to understand
 
and apply in all jurisdictions.
 

	
 
\section{GPLv3~\S9: Acceptance}
 

	
 
% FIXME: needs some work here
 

	
 
Section 9 means what it says: mere receipt or execution of code neither
 
requires nor signifies contractual acceptance under the GPL.  Speaking more
 
broadly, we have intentionally structured our license as a unilateral grant
 
of copyright permissions, the basic operation of which exists outside of any
 
law of contract.  Whether and when a contractual relationship is formed
 
between licensor and licensee under local law do not necessarily matter to
 
the working of the license.
 

	
 
\section{GPLv3~\S10: Explicit Downstream License}
 

	
 
% FIXME: These don't belong here, but it's closer to where it ought to be now.
 

	
 
It is important to note that section 11, paragraph 3 refers to a work that is
 
conveyed, and section 10, paragraph 2 refers to a kind of automatic
 
counterpart to conveying achieved as the result of a transaction. 
 

	
 
% FIXME: needs filled out and more here.
 

	
 
Draft1 removed the words ``at no charge'' from what is now subsection 5b, the
 
core copyleft provision, for reasons related to our current changes to the
 
second paragraph of section 4: it had contributed to a misconception that the
 
GPL did not permit charging for distribution of copies.  The purpose of the
 
``at no charge'' wording was to prevent attempts to collect royalties from
 
third parties.  The removal of these words created the danger that the
 
imposition of licensing fees would no longer be seen as a license
 
violation.
 

	
 
We therefore have added a new explicit prohibition on imposition of licensing
 
fees or royalties in section 10.  This section is an appropriate place for
 
such a clause, since it is a specific consequence of the general requirement
 
that no further restrictions be imposed on downstream recipients of
 
GPL-covered code.
 

	
 
Careful readers of the GPL have suggested that its explicit prohibition
 
against imposition of further restrictions\footnote{GPLv2, section 6; Draft
 
  3, section 10, third paragraph.} has, or ought to have, implications for
 
those who assert patents against other licensees.  Draft 2 took some steps to
 
clarify this point in a manner not specific to patents, by describing the
 
imposition of ``a license fee, royalty, or other charge'' for exercising GPL
 
rights as one example of an impermissible further restriction.  In Draft 3 we
 
have clarified further that the requirement of non-imposition of further
 
restrictions has specific consequences for litigation accusing GPL-covered
 
programs of infringement.  Section 10 now states that ``you may not initiate
 
litigation (including a cross-claim or counterclaim in a lawsuit) alleging
 
that any patent claim is infringed by making, using, selling, offering for
 
sale, or importing the Program (or the contribution of any contributor).''
 
That is to say, a patent holder's licensed permissions to use a work under
 
GPLv3 may be terminated under section 8 if the patent holder files a lawsuit
 
alleging that use of the work, or of any upstream GPLv3-licensed work on
 
which the work is based, infringes a patent.
 

	
 
\section{GPLv3~\S11: Explicit Patent Licensing}
 
\label{GPLv3s11}
 

	
 
The patent licensing practices that section 7 of GPLv2 (corresponding to
 
section 12 of GPLv3) was designed to prevent are one of several ways in which
 
software patents threaten to make free programs non-free and to prevent users
 
from exercising their rights under the GPL. GPLv3 takes a more comprehensive
 
approach to combatting the danger of patents.
 

	
 
Software patenting is a harmful and unjust policy, and should be abolished;
 
recent experience makes this all the more evident. Since many countries grant
 
patents that can apply to and prohibit software packages, in various guises
 
and to varying degrees, we seek to protect the users of GPL-covered programs
 
from those patents, while at the same time making it feasible for patent
 
holders to contribute to and distribute GPL-covered programs as long as they
 
do not attack the users of those programs.
 

	
 
It is generally understood that GPLv2 implies some limits on a licensee's
 
power to assert patent claims against the use of GPL-covered works.
 

	
 
Therefore, we have designed GPLv3 to reduce the patent risks that distort and
 
threaten the activities of users who make, run, modify and share free
 
software.  At the same time, we have given due consideration to practical
 
goals such as certainty and administrability for patent holders that
 
participate in distribution and development of GPL-covered software.  Our
 
policy requires each such patent holder to provide appropriate levels of
 
patent assurance to users, according to the nature of the patent holder's
 
relationship to the program.
 

	
 
Draft 3 features several significant changes concerning patents.  We have
 
made improvements to earlier wording, clarified when patent assertion becomes
 
a prohibited restriction on GPL rights, and replaced a distribution-triggered
 
non-assertion covenant with a contribution-based patent license grant. We
 
have also added provisions to block collusion by patent holders with software
 
distributors that would extend patent licenses in a discriminatory way.
 

	
 

	
 
Draft 3 introduces the terms ``contributor'' and ``contribution,'' which are
 
used in the third paragraph of section 10 and the first paragraph of section
 
11, discussed successively in the following two subsections.  Section 0
 
defines a contributor as ``a party who licenses under this License a work on
 
which the Program is based.'' That work is the ``contribution'' of that
 
contributor.  In other words, each received GPLv3-covered work is associated
 
with one or more contributors, making up the finite set of upstream GPLv3
 
licensors for that work. Viewed from the perspective of a recipient of the
 
Program, contributors include all the copyright holders for the Program,
 
other than copyright holders of material originally licensed under non-GPL
 
terms and later incorporated into a GPL-covered work.  The contributors are
 
therefore the initial GPLv3 licensors of the Program and all subsequent
 
upstream licensors who convey, under the terms of section 5, modified works
 
on which the Program is based.
 

	
 
For a contributor whose contribution is a modified work conveyed under
 
section 5, the contribution is ``the entire work, as a whole'' which the
 
contributor is required to license under GPLv3.  The contribution therefore
 
includes not just the material added or altered by the contributor, but also
 
the pre-existing material the contributor copied from the upstream version
 
and retained in the modified version. Our usage of ``contributor'' and
 
``contribution'' should not be confused with the various other ways in which
 
those terms are used in certain other free software licenses.\footnote{Cf.,
 
  e.g., Apache License, version 2.0, section 1; Eclipse Public License,
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