| ▲ | davisr a day ago |
| This is funny because I was the operations assistant (office secretary) at the time we received this letter, and I remember it because of the distinct postage. |
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| ▲ | ngharo 16 hours ago | parent | next [-] |
| I met a web developer working for the FSF at a Boston pub one night while in town for a Red Hat conference. After many drinks, he walked us down fifth street to the FSF office building. I wasn’t sure what to expect but when we got there, he typed in some numbers on the door entry system, and what came out was RMS singing the free software song lol. It was a wonderful treat for a young Linux nerd on a hazy adventure in the early morning |
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| ▲ | MadnessASAP a day ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| How wonderful! Since the game of the day seems to be the technicalities of the minutiae, could you explain the decision to send the GPLv3 vs GPLv2? Is this a request that happens often? |
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| ▲ | jenscow a day ago | parent | next [-] | | The version wasn't specified in the request | | | |
| ▲ | self_awareness a day ago | parent | prev [-] | | The sender didn't specify the version in his request, so I find it natural that they've sent him the latest version. | | |
| ▲ | taftster 21 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | The author mentioned this exact problem. Quoting: > There was a problem that I noticed right away, though: this text was from the GPL v3, not the GPL v2. In my original request I had never mentioned the GPL version I was asking about. >The original license notice makes no mention of GPL version either. Should the fact that the license notice contained an address have been enough metadata or a clue, that I was actually requesting the GPL v2 license? Or should I have mentioned that I was seeking the GPLv2 license? This is seemingly a problem with the GPL text itself, in that it doesn't mention which license version to request when you mail the FSF. | | |
| ▲ | hughw 17 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | A Sid Caesar skit showed doughboys celebrating and one shouted "World War 1 is over!"... when they made GPLv2 maybe they didn't anticipate creating future versions (although yeah, if you're already on v2 you should foresee that). | | | |
| ▲ | DSMan195276 19 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | Well to be fair, that's not the full license notice, that's only the last paragraph. There should a couple more above that one and the first paragraph says the version of GPL in use. That said I think the license notice is also just a suggested one, it's not required that you use that _exact_ text. |
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| ▲ | kevincox a day ago | parent | prev [-] | | How does a sender who only has a GPLv2 license notice even know that there is a v3? Should they first send a letter asking which versions are available? | | |
| ▲ | snickerbockers 18 hours ago | parent | next [-] | | the usual license header has something along the lines of "either version [23], or at your discretion, any subsequent version", which clearly explains that there are specific versions with distinct rules. Many people opt not to include this clause because they (understandably) don't want to automatically agree to a contract that hasn't even been written yet. However if they fail to make the version clear that's on them. Anyways I don't think this defense would ever fly in court. As soon as the plaintiff's lawyers produce evidence that you are aware of GPLv3 (such as pointing out that you have GPLv3 software on your PC or phone) the judge is going to see that you're trying to game the system on technicality and sanction you. Judges really don't like this sly loophole BS where it's extremely obvious that you're feigning ignorance for the sake of constructing an alternate reality where you hypothetically never knew there was a GPLv3. | |
| ▲ | self_awareness 21 hours ago | parent | prev [-] | | If the sender requests GPLv2, he should receive GPL version 2. If the sender requests GPL, I find it natural for him to receive version 3, because it's the latest version. At the time of receiving the license, he gains knowledge about the existence of version 3 (the header on the print says the GPL he received is version 3). If the sender has a notice about GPLv2, it means that there's a high chance that there's also GPLv1. This should be a sufficient hint that requesting only "GPL" is not sufficient, because the sender should be aware of the risk of receiving GPLv1 if he won't mention the "v2". | | |
| ▲ | pantalaimon 17 hours ago | parent [-] | | GPLv2 by default means GPLv2 or later, so GPLv3 is perfectly valid indeed. | | |
| ▲ | mmx1 10 hours ago | parent [-] | | That's actually not true. GPLv2 by default means v2, not v3, unless you explicitly allow "or later." Linux is actually the famed example of v2 but not v3. |
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| ▲ | cortesoft a day ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| What sort of request volume did you get? How many per day were you sending out? |
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| ▲ | leoh 12 hours ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Was including reply postage in fact required? |
