License for 4.4

[Jasper Huijsmans]

Thomas Leonard wrote:
> On Fri, 05 Jan 2007 13:27:54 +0100, Bernhard Walle wrote:
>
>   
>> Hello,
>>
>> * Biju Chacko <botsie at xfce.org> [2007-01-05 08:19]:
>>     
>>> I think we should change the text of all GPL licensed components in XFCE 
>>> to GPL v2 only. This will allow us to move to GPL3 once we see a 
>>> consensus in the community to move to GPL3. Otherwise we will be 
>>> automatically switched when GPL3 is released.
>>>       
>> No, nothing is "automatically switched". Xfce stays GPLv2, the "or
>> later" clause only means that somebody can re-license it under GPLv3
>> which basically means that he is able to include the source code in a
>> GPLv3 project.
>>
>>     
>>> I don't want to get into a license flamewar, but in my opinion we should 
>>> only move to GPL3 when several other big projects have done so. I don't 
>>> think any of us know enough about it, but I think it would be safer to 
>>> go along with the majority of the community is doing.
>>>       
>> Although I personally like the idea of GPLv2 only, I think that's not
>> possbile. Xfce contains patches from many contributors, and you cannot
>> change the license later without having acknowledges of every single
>> contributor.
>>     
>
> I think the problem is more going the other way: other projects (with the
> "or later" clause) will no longer be able to copy code from Xfce.
>
>   
Personally, I would hate to see that happen (it's the majority of GPL 
licensed code). That's not why I use the GPL.