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The good news for GNU GPLv3 (General Public License Version 3) supporters is that Linus Torvalds, the father of Linux, thinks the final draft is better than the earlier ones. The bad news is that he has “yet to see any actual reasons for licensing under the GPLv3.”
In a discussion on the LKML (Linux Kernel Mailing List) on the possibility of using both GPLv2, the open-source license now used by Linux, and GPLv3, which is scheduled to be finalized on June 29, Torvalds weighed in saying, “I consider dual-licensing unlikely (and technically quite hard), but at least possible in theory.”
While Torvalds said he was “impressed [by the latest GPLv3 draft] in the sense that it was a hell of a lot better than the disasters that were the earlier drafts,” that doesnt mean he actually likes it.
“I still think GPLv2 is simply the better license,” continued Torvalds.
Besides, he dismisses most of the arguments for the GPLv3. “All Ive heard are shrill voices about Tivoization (which I expressly think is OK) and panicked worries about Novell-MS (which seem way overblown, and quite frankly, the argument seems to not so much be about the Novell deal, as about an excuse to push the GPLv3).”
In “Tivoization” a device-maker uses GPLv2 code, such as Linux, but doesnt release sufficient details of the system to enable users to install modified source code on the device (for example, signature keys required for modified binaries to run), under the argument that the appliances software was never meant to be user-accessible.