Linux Wont Switch to GPLv3

Published: Jun 13, 2007
Updated: Feb 2, 2021
2 minute read
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MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.—If anyone out there still thinks that the main Linux kernel might change to the GNU GPLv3 (GNU General Public License Version 3) anytime soon, you can forget about it.

At the Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit at the Googleplex, five of the leading Linux kernel developers said that they couldnt see anything like a good enough reason to switch to the forthcoming free software license.

/zimages/7/28571.gifWhat do the authors of GPLv3 think about the final draft?Click hereto read their comments.

Like Linus Torvalds, Linuxs founder and guiding light, the developers still dislike the GPLv3.

During a panel on kernel development, when asked about the new GPLv3, due out on June 29, Greg Kroah-Hartman said that he had not changed his opinion that he thinks the “GPLv3 is bad.”

To justify switching Linux to the GPLv3 it “would have to be significantly better, and its not,” said Kroah-Hartman. Ted Tso added that, “pragmatically speaking, its too much trouble for not enough advantage.”

Tso continued, “I think [the latest draft is] much better. I may use it in my userspace community programs. The Free Software Foundation did listen. This version is much better. Props to Eben Moglen and company for making it better, but it still has problems and its not that much better than the GPLv2. Moving the current Linux kernel would take at least six months of arguing and work and its just not worth it.”

/zimages/7/28571.gifRead the full story on Linux-Watch: Forget About Linux Going GPLv3

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Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

I'm editor-at-large for Ziff Davis Enterprise. That's a fancy title that means I write about whatever topic strikes my fancy or needs written about across the Ziff Davis Enterprise family of publications. You'll find most of my stories in Linux-Watch, DesktopLinux and eWEEK. Prior to becoming a technology journalist, I worked at NASA and the Department of Defense on numerous major technological projects.

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