[aur-general] Licenses, GPL3 only

[Philipp Überbacher]

Excerpts from Ronald van Haren's message of 2010-08-26 13:29:09 +0200:
> On Thu, Aug 26, 2010 at 1:25 PM, Philipp Überbacher
> <hollunder at lavabit.com> wrote:
> > Excerpts from Roberto Alsina's message of 2010-08-26 13:16:05 +0200:
> >> On Thursday 26 August 2010 08:12:23 Ronald van Haren wrote:
> >> > My second point was that we don't know what the future will bring.
> >> > Will new applications being licensed under GPL2 or later, GPL3 or
> >> > later, GPL4, GPL4 or later... there are lots of options. There are
> >> > lots of possibilities and I'm wondering if it is at all feasible to
> >> > create a naming scheme which will fit all.
> >>
> >> Sure:
> >>
> >> GPL2
> >> GPL2+
> >> GPL3
> >> GPL3+
> >> etc.
> >
> > That's what I'd be in favor of. I'm not sure the '+' is the best way,
> > because it has other meanings than 'any later' as well.
> >
> 
> I missed the bloody obvious.... :lol:
> 
> >> For convenience, you may want to make GPL the equivalent of GPL2+
> >
> > I think that's not convenient but confusing.
> > --
> 
> Even with setting GPL to GPL2+, it is a lot of work. I don't even want
> to think about the amount of work it creates not doing so...
> Not sure if it is really worth the effort at this point.
> 
> Ronald

That's the trouble. The current naming scheme isn't future proof.
Changing it would be a lot of work as it affects every single package
and pacman and helpers.

I guess we could extend the current scheme in a future proof manner, but
overall it would be inconsistent.

Keep the current meaning:
GPL   = GPL2 or later
GPL2  = GPL2 only
GPL3  = GPL3 or later

Add something for the GPL3 only case:
GPL3o = GPL3 only <- find some nicer way

Basically start a new, consistent scheme with GPL4:
GPL4  = GPL4 only
GPL4+ = GPL4 or later
..

If they come up with something fancier than a plain 'or later' we might
be in trouble again.

Alternatively:

Keep the current meaning:
GPL   = GPL2 or later
GPL2  = GPL2 only
GPL3  = GPL3 or later

Add something for the GPL3 only case:
GPL3o = GPL3 only <- find some nicer way

Keep using the GPL3 way:
GPL4  = GPL4 or later
GPL4o = GPL4 only


It's all a bunch of hacks to avoid a transition from the current scheme
to a new one. Maybe a solution would be to find a way to ease said
transition.
-- 
Philipp

--
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