diff --git a/gpl-lgpl.tex b/gpl-lgpl.tex index 62eb7b4c561be62283342f0aaa17c6daddabb27b..ec469403aecf82e1e701407384de74b863a70b45 100644 --- a/gpl-lgpl.tex +++ b/gpl-lgpl.tex @@ -2097,21 +2097,19 @@ 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 never been formally used by any -copyright holders. Some have used GPLv2~\S8 to explain various odd special -topics of distribution, but generally speaking, this section is not -particularly useful and was actually removed in GPLv3. - -% FIXME: integrate this into this section. - -To our knowledge, no one has invoked this section to add an explicit -geographical distribution limitation since GPLv2 was released in 1991. We -have concluded that this provision is not needed and is not expected to be -needed in the future, and that it therefore should be removed. - -Although a principal reason for removing the provision is the fact that it -has rarely been used, we have also encountered one current example of its use -that we find troubling. +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}