Re: (L)GPLv3

[Christian Persch <chpe gnome org>]

Hi;

> Le mardi 06 juillet 2010 à 09:00 -0400, Ryan Lortie a écrit :
> > Anybody who has an application that is GPLv2-only and has accepted
> > enough contributions that it has become an unreasonable proposition
> > to relicense has made a significant mistake.
> 
> Anyone who licenses his work under a license “or later version” takes
> a significant risk, which is roughly similar to that of copyright
> attribution.

I don't think this is true. The GPL2 promises that "new
versions will be similar in spirit to the present version, but may
differ in detail to address new problems or concerns." Contrast
that with copyright assignment, where you don't have *any*
guarantees about the terms the new 'owner' may choose to distribute
your work under.

Also, even if you do consider "or later versions" a significant
risk, you should note that you've *already taken* this risk by using
LGPL2.1-only, since LGPL2.1 allows using the work under GPL2 or any
later version of the GPL.

Regards,
	Christian