Linux lab urges GPL clarification

Open Source Development Labs has called for the FSF to define how to mix code governed by current and next GPL

The Free Software Foundation urgently needs to explain how software governed by the current General Public License will interact with that governed by a successor now under development, the leader of the Open Source Development Labs said Wednesday.

The General Public License (GPL) governs innumerable projects in the open source and free-software realms. The most notable example is the Linux kernel, but it also covers major projects such as the GCC compiler, the Samba file server software and the MySQL database. GPL version 2 was published in 1991, and the foundation is drafting a successor to tackle new issues such as software patents and digital rights management.

FSF attorney Eben Moglen met members of a committee of corporate powers on Tuesday and Wednesday in Chicago, said OSDL chief executive Stuart Cohen. There, they raised an issue that OSDL has heard about from many concerned parties, Cohen said: how will GPLv2 and GPLv3 software coexist?

“We’ve been at this nine months. It’s time to get specific. It’s time for the FSF to write it down and say what the rules are,” Cohen said.

Moglen, however, has a different assessment and indicated he’s not likely to clarify the issue for now.

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