Please correct me if I am wrong. If existing codes of a project are licensed under GPL 2, and if someone from that project wants to license the codes with GPL 3 that command, EVERY code owner or contributor will need to agree on using the *new* license. realistically, if at least one ojbects the change, the codes can't be licensed with the new license. so GPL3 with that command doesn't apply to most of the existing projects. or someone can fork an project and apply the GPL 3 license. It can be used on any new project though. On 9/30/05, Karoly Negyesi <karoly@negyesi.net> wrote:
------- Some companies, such as Google, use code covered by GPL to offer their services through the Web. Do you plan to extend GPL 3 copyleft to request code publication in this case too, considering this behavior like a product distribution?
Running a program in a public server is not distribution; it is public use. We're looking at an approach where programs used in this way will have to include a command for the user to download the source for the version that is running.
But this will not apply to all GPL-covered programs, only to programs that already contain such a command. Thus, this change would have no effect on existing software, but developers could activate it in the future.
This is only a tentative plan, because we have not finished studying the matter to be sure it will work.
How would it work?
If you release a program that implements such a command, GPL 3 will require others to keep the command working in their modified versions of the program. -------